Update: Santa Paula school board tells superintendent to ‘dig deeper’ to restore cuts to bilingual and migrant education
Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/may/15/santa-paula-school-board-tells-superintendent-dig/#ixzz2TTVxYm3P
– vcstar.com
SANTA PAULA — The Santa Paula Elementary School District community will have a large presence at the Santa Paula Elementary School board meeting on Tuesday, May 14 to urge board members to restore recently-implemented cuts to migrant student services, the California School Employee Association /AFL-CIO reported Monday in a media release.
“Our migrant students need all of the help they can get and our district has the means to give them that help,” Sue Carpenter, president of CSEA’s Santa Paula Elementary Chapter 497, which represents library aides, instructional assistants and other support staff, stated in the release. “We have to let our district know that it’s not OK to leave these students behind.”
The board voted to cut several positions citing a reduction in funds. These cuts affect primarily migrant students, a demographic group that makes up a large part of the district and needs more help than other populations to meet academic standards, the association reported. The cuts will result in less help and fewer educational resources for migrant students. Although district officials cite a reduction in funds as the reason for the cuts, the district has the means to continue funding these necessary positions. The district’s own budget reports show they ended the 2011-12 school year with a $6 million surplus, with an additional $614,464 projected for this year,
Santa Paula Elementary schools are already stretched thin due to years of cuts and layoffs. These additional cuts will make it even more difficult to bring migrant students up to instructional standards. It’s unclear why the Santa Paula Elementary Board of Education would vote for more cuts to programs that affect a disadvantaged population even when the district has enough funds to provide these services.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 14 at the Santa Paula Elementary District Office, 201 So. Stecklel Drive, Santa Paula. Call 805-990-2245 for more information.