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Tight budget could mean teacher shifting at BVSD
Boulder Valley parents fight a change at Ryan Elementary
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A sluggish economy has tightened the Boulder Valley School District’s budget, and this year officials don’t have the extra money to hire teachers for schools with higher-than-projected enrollments.
Instead, if one school has more students than expected and another school has fewer, district officials said they might shuffle teachers from one building to another — an option that had been considered at Lafayette’s Ryan Elementary until Thursday afternoon.
Parents had planned to protest Friday morning had the district followed through with moving a first-grade teacher from Ryan to Lafayette Elementary. The shift, to address higher-than-projected first-grade enrollment at Lafayette, would have forced Ryan to combine two first-grade classes.
“My son is a bright, self-sufficient little guy,” said Mindi Vanzee, who has a son in first grade at Ryan. “He will be one of the ones — if the class increases by 20 percent — to fall through the cracks.”
Vanzee was planning to make picket signs Thursday until school officials told her the district had decided not to move a teacher.
“We’re so happy that we could make a difference about something we felt strongly about,” she said.
According to an e-mail Ryan Principal Cyrus Weinberger sent to parents Thursday, “After hearing the concerns some members of our community had, school leadership brought the situation to the attention of superintendent Chris King. They examined all possible options and found another solution to the staffing challenges currently faced by our neighbor school Lafayette Elementary.”
King said the district is handling Lafayette Elementary’s over-enrollment by sending more para-professionals to the school.
In previous years, the district has been financially able to hire teachers in the fall if schools have higher-than-expected enrollments. Because of this year’s leaner budget, the district is helping schools with enrollment bumps by pulling teachers from schools with enrollment dips, King said.
“What is unusual this year is our ability to respond to hot spots is less than it has been in the past,” he said.
Although Ryan Elementary — which has about 30 fewer students than projected — is the only school officials this fall have considered moving a teacher from, King said, “We are still studying things, and it’s always a strategy we consider.
“It’s not something we like to do, but it’s an expensive decision to leave a teacher at a school that’s under-enrolled,” he said.
Teresa Ollila, whose daughter is in first grade at Ryan, said students shouldn’t have to say good-bye to their teachers after spending a few weeks with them — regardless of the district’s financial situation.
“My daughter loves her teacher, and she’s afraid she’s going to lose her,” Ollila said. “To pull from another Lafayette school is not appropriate.”
Some Colorado school districts — including St. Vrain Valley, which covers 13 communities including Longmont, Niwot and Erie — have had to take much more drastic measures to accommodate shrinking funds. St. Vrain Valley cut 85 positions in the spring.
Bill Sutter, Boulder Valley’s budget services director, said, “We weren’t, and still aren’t, looking at any of that,” but district spokesman Briggs Gamblin called this year’s budget “extremely tight.”
Boulder Valley enrollment data for this year should be final by Oct. 1, Gamblin said, meaning any teacher shuffling should happen before then.
“It’s frustrating to parents, but we feel it’s the best thing we can do to balance our kids’ educational needs with the dollars we have,” Gamblin said. “And we’re still in a lot better shape than other school districts.”
Posted by ziggle on August 28, 2008 at 9:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why not move the teacher? Paraeducators aren't a substitute for a trained teacher. If Ryan doesn't have the enrollment to justify the teacher, and Lafayette does, then the teacher should be moved.
Kids adjust very easily to new teachers -- probably easier than parents. Teachers go on maternity leave, get sick, or have to suddenly move to another state because of a spouse's job change, and kids do fine.
Posted by wgstrand on August 28, 2008 at 9:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The issue isn't money, GabeMc - it's bureaucracy, of which the BVSD has oodles and oodles...
Posted by kag on August 29, 2008 at 7:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I could save a few hundred k in BVSD right now. Fire Dave Williamson, and reorg the IT department. No one will miss Mr. W., and the department is hemorrhaging money out of this district. My cat could manage IT better than dear ol' Dave, and save money doing it.
Posted by louisebenson on August 29, 2008 at 7:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The article fails to educate the public on exactly how a sluggish economy translates into fewer dollars for BVSD. Does this reduce the State Per Pupil money (currently about $6600)? Tax overrides (such as the bond) and mill levies haven't changed. At least in Broomfield, tax assessments went up, not down, despite decreasing property values. To my knowledge, there is no portion of the school budget dependent on sales tax revenues.
Also, the article fails to state what class sizes are in these and other schools, by grade, or discuss what is supposed to be lower class size in schools with higher populations of disadvantaged students.
Lastly, how does the Reorganization of special ed resources affect this problem? Supposedly, central admin staff was cut and resources directed at schools. But six new high-salary central admin positions, including "Director of Student Success," were created. Let's see an accounting of where dollars are going.
In a district trying to close the Achievement Gap, it is shameful to short-change one of the very schools where the problem is significant.
Posted by annbrian on August 29, 2008 at 8:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Where were the quotes from the Lafayette elementary school parents? It seemed clear that we were supposed to be sympathetic to the Ryan parents.
How many kids are we talking about? Hard numbers would be useful as well, it would have been great if the article said "Ryan Elementary school has X first grade classes with Y number of students and Lafayette elementary school has W first grade classes with Z number of students.
Posted by monkeys on August 29, 2008 at 8:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
No wonder less than half the kids in the Lafayette Elementary neighborhood actually GO to Lafayette Elementary. It's a low performing school, and now there will be even MORE paras. Paras are good people, but teachers are the ones trained to teach.
Posted by boulder_native on August 29, 2008 at 8:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
louise benson is absolutely correct. This article is a hack job of the worst kind of journalism. What the heck does the slow economy mentioned in the very first paragraph.
Not only is it not elaborated upon, the average voter knows that property tax not sales tax funds schools. So either the BVSD is lying to the reporter and/or mismanaging its funds, or the BDC is a joke of a paper.
Posted by potbelliechef on August 29, 2008 at 12:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
louisebenson raises a good point in that the DC article fails to explain the effect the economy has. But don't think only on the revenue side - expenses have risen considerably, as well, while revenue has been relatively flat. And if the economy continues to falter - especially because the values of real estate fall - look for that trend to continue.
Posted by boulderhippie on August 29, 2008 at 6:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"What the heck does the slow economy mentioned in the very first paragraph."
if you are a BVSD grad, the problems are deeper than money.
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