Vallecito Union School District Report

Vallecito Union School District School Consolidation Review January 12, 2017 Joel D. Montero Chief Executive Officer Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM January 12, 2017 Don Ogden, Superintendent Vallecito Union School District 4545 B Moran Road Avery, CA 95224 Dear Superintendent Ogden: In June 2016, the Vallecito Union School District entered into an agreement with the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT) to review the feasibility of a potential school consolida- tion. Specifically, the study agreement states that FCMAT will complete the following: 1. Provide fiscal analysis and recommendations to help the district prepare for a potential school closure and/or consolidation of sites, if any. 2. Provide a five-year cohort enrollment analysis by district and school, including birth- rate analysis for transitional kindergarten and kindergarten students. 3. Provide a scoring rubric and criteria to evaluate the school closure process and function as the baseline document to begin the process, if needed. The scoring rubric and criteria shall include, but not be limited to, the following: a) Cohort survival enrollment projection analysis b) Board policies regarding school site size and student capacity c) Facility conditions evaluation, review of facilities master plan, general obliga- tion bond or other funding from the Office of Public School Construction d) Facility capacity by site utilizing OPSC loading standards or board policies e) Grade level configurations or realignment, impact to students f) Location and geographic assessment by site g) Transportation options regarding closure for each site h) Financial analysis regarding cost savings i) Special programs or services j) Impact of collective bargaining k) Facility alternatives including surplus sale l) Provide recommendations regarding the formation of a 7-11 committee and proposed timeline for a potential school closure. The timeline and calendar will include the recommended scheduled presentations, sample board resolutions, and other recommended meetings and site visits. This report contains the study team’s findings and recommendations. We appreciate the opportunity to serve you and we extend our thanks to all the staff of the Vallecito Union School District for their cooperation and assistance during fieldwork. Sincerely, Joel D. Montero Chief Executive Officer Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM i TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents About FCMAT ...................................................................iii Introduction ........................................................................1 Executive Summary ...........................................................3 Findings and Recommendations .....................................5 Enrollment Projections .................................................................................................5 Financial Analysis and Cost Savings ..........................................................................9 School Transportation ................................................................................................13 Revenue Enhancement Options .............................................................................19 School Closure Decisions – Community Impact .................................................23 Special Programs ........................................................................................................25 Charter School Analysis .............................................................................................27 Collective Bargaining ..................................................................................................29 Facility Analysis Including Surplus Sale ..................................................................31 School Closure Process ..............................................................................................35 Summary Timeline for School Closure ..................................................................39 Schools Facilities Committee Meetings and Data Needed .............................45 Appendices ....................................................................... 55 Vallecito Union School DiStrict ii Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM iii ABOUT FCMAT About FCMAT FCMAT’s primary mission is to assist California’s local K-14 educational agencies to identify, prevent, and resolve financial, human resources and data management challenges. FCMAT provides fiscal and data management assistance, professional development training, product development and other related school business and data services. FCMAT’s fiscal and manage- ment assistance services are used not just to help avert fiscal crisis, but to promote sound financial practices, support the training and development of chief business officials and help to create efficient organizational operations. FCMAT’s data management services are used to help local educational agencies (LEAs) meet state reporting responsibilities, improve data quality, and inform instructional program decisions. FCMAT may be requested to provide fiscal crisis or management assistance by a school district, charter school, community college, county office of education, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, or the Legislature. When a request or assignment is received, FCMAT assembles a study team that works closely with the LEA to define the scope of work, conduct on-site fieldwork and provide a written report with findings and recommendations to help resolve issues, overcome challenges and plan for the future. FCMAT has continued to make adjustments in the types of support provided based on the changing dynamics of K-14 LEAs and the implementation of major educational reforms. Studies by Fiscal Year 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 92/93 93/94 94/95 95/96 96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 Vallecito Union School DiStrict seidutS fo rebmuN FCMAT also develops and provides numerous publications, software tools, workshops and professional development opportunities to help LEAs operate more effectively and fulfill their fiscal oversight and data management responsibilities. The California School Information Services (CSIS) division of FCMAT assists the California Department of Education with the implementation of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) and also maintains DataGate, the FCMAT/CSIS software LEAs use for CSIS services. FCMAT was created by Assembly Bill (AB) 1200 in 1992 to assist LEAs to meet and sustain their financial obligations. AB 107 in 1997 charged FCMAT with responsibility for CSIS and its statewide data management work. AB 1115 in 1999 codified CSIS’ mission. iv ABOUT FCMAT AB 1200 is also a statewide plan for county offices of education and school districts to work together locally to improve fiscal procedures and accountability standards. AB 2756 (2004) provides specific responsibilities to FCMAT with regard to districts that have received emergency state loans. In January 2006, Senate Bill 430 (charter schools) and AB 1366 (community colleges) became law and expanded FCMAT’s services to those types of LEAs. Since 1992, FCMAT has been engaged to perform more than 1,000 reviews for LEAs, including school districts, county offices of education, charter schools and community colleges. The Kern County Superintendent of Schools is the administrative agent for FCMAT. The team is led by Joel D. Montero, Chief Executive Officer, with funding derived through appropriations in the state budget and a modest fee schedule for charges to requesting agencies. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 1 INTRODUCTION Introduction The Vallecito Union School District serves K-8 students and covers roughly 200 square miles in Calaveras County. The district includes the foothill communities of Murphy’s, Avery, Hathaway Pines, Camp Connell, Dorrington, White Pines and Arnold, and the Alpine portion of the county, including Bear Valley. The district has a significant number of retirement homes and vacation rentals within its boundaries. The district operates two K-5 elementary schools and one 6-8 middle school along the Highway 4 corridor in Calaveras County. Alberts Michelson Elementary School is located in Murphys and is approximately 12 miles west of Avery Middle School in the community of Avery. Hazel Fischer Elementary School is located in Arnold, approximately eight miles east of Avery Middle School. Hazel Fischer Elementary has the lowest enrollment of the three schools with approximately 160 students. School districts typically consider school consolidation for financial reasons that generally include declining enrollment and the corresponding decrease in revenues. However, because Vallecito Union is a basic aid district, it is considering this change because of other factors including the following: 1. Increases in student enrollment without additional funding 2. Property taxes have not kept pace with expenditures. 3. Increases in enrollment have resulted in increases in staffing and associated expenditures. 4. Basic-aid status does not provide additional funding under the state Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). 5. District’s excess costs for its special education local plan area (SELPA) charge- back have significantly increased over time. 6. The district’s support of three small schools. 7. Increased in-lieu transfers of property tax revenues to Mountain Oak Charter School from approximately $42,000 in 2010-11 to $186,000 projected for 2016-17. Additionally, there has been a significant amount of turnover on the district’s governing board over the last three years, and institutional memory regarding why the district operates three schools with approximately 200 students each has been lost. The study will assist the governing board in determining whether continuing with this model is in the best interest of the district. The administration has also expressed concerns that operating three schools drive instructional decisions in a way that is not cost effective. For example, personnel cannot be shared among sites because of the geographical distances between schools. Lastly, there is a need for the board to come to consensus on the number of schools the district will operate prior to pursuing a new strategic plan. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 2 INTRODUCTION Study Guidelines FCMAT visited the district on September 7 and 8, 2016 to conduct interviews, collect data and review documents. This report is the result of those activities and is divided into the following sections: I. Enrollment Projections II. Financial Analysis and Cost Savings III. School Transportation IV. Revenue Enhancement Options V. Special Programs or Schools VI. Charter School Analysis VII. Collective Bargaining VIII. Facility Analysis, Including Surplus Sale IX. School Closure Process X. Time Line for School Closure XI. District Consolidation Committee Meetings XII. Appendices Study Team The study team was composed of the following members: Eric D. Smith, MPA Michael Rea* Fiscal Intervention specialist Executive Director FCMAT West County Transportation Agency Templeton, CA Santa Rosa, California Leonel Martínez Leigh Coop FCMAT Technical Writer FCMAT Consultant Bakersfield, CA Sacramento, CA *As a member of this study team, this consultant was not representing his respective employers but was working solely as an independent contractor for FCMAT. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive Summary Facilities Avery Middle School, built in 1994, is the newest of the district’s three schools. It is on a spacious site, is well maintained, has an adequate number of regular and special classrooms, and includes minimum essential facilities such as a library and gymnasium. However, it does not have a multi- purpose room. The two elementary schools, Michelson and Fischer, are located on smaller sites, are older (both were built in 1974 and modernized in 2003), and have fewer classrooms. Both have libraries and multipurpose buildings, but neither has a gymnasium. The multipurpose room at Michelson is adjacent to the district’s central kitchen, which prepares breakfast and lunch for students at all of the districts’ schools. The district deficit spends, with an operating deficit in excess of $500,000 per year. FCMAT was asked to review the possibility of school consolidation because of the ongoing cost of operating of all three schools. FCMAT analyzed the cost savings of closing each school; any consolidation that includes the closure of Alberts Michelson would require the relocation of the district’s central kitchen to Avery Middle School. A more detailed cost analysis of each school closure alternative is presented in the body of the report. Likewise any consolidation that includes the relocation of kindergarten classes to Avery Middle School would require the construction of new kindergarten classrooms (The California Department of Education (CDE) recommended standard is 1,350 square feet with self-contained restrooms). Because of the need for these changes in school facilities, both options may be cost-prohibitive. Instead of school consolidation, the district may want to explore the feasibility of increasing its operating revenue by passing a parcel tax. The first step would be for the district to retain a community opinion survey consultant to determine whether the community would support such a proposal, and if so, at what rate. Transportation The district has two separate memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with the Bret Harte Union High School District for the transportation of special education and regular education students. The district owns two special education van-type buses and five coach-type regular education buses, which Bret Harte Union operates for the district. Approximately 14 special education students are transported to their educational programs. The district has two regular education bus routes; one transports 68 students in the morning and 132 in the afternoon, and the other transports 106 students in the morning and 117 in the afternoon. Under any consolidation arrangement, one regular education bus route will likely need to be added unless the routes can be operated very early in the morning and late in the afternoon, which would add significant supervision time at the campuses. The annual cost of one additional route would be approximately $58,246. In addition, the cost of special education transportation may increase depending on the consolidation arrangement. The current method of distributing special education transportation costs is based on mileage. If the special education programs are moved to another campus, mileage and costs will likely increase. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The district also benefits from a third bus route that is operated by and under an agreement with the Alpine County Unified School District, which no longer operates an elementary school on the west side of Ebbetts Pass. Students from the west side of the pass attend Vallecito Union schools; Alpine County Unified provides the transportation and also transports Vallecito Union students who live east of the latter district’s current transportation service area. There is no charge for this service or arrangement, and it is unlikely that any consolidation would change this agreement. However, if any consolidation is considered, the district should communicate this to Alpine County Unified early to determine any fiscal implications. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 5 ENROLLMENT PROJECTIONS Findings and Recommendations Enrollment Projections Because the most common reason for considering school consolidation is declining enrollment, it is useful to review the district’s historical enrollment patterns to estimate enrollment in the near future. FCMAT used the cohort survival technique to project the district’s enrollment. Cohort survival groups students by grade level upon entry and tracks them through each year they stay in school. This method evaluates the longitudinal relationship of the number of students passing from one grade to the next in the subsequent year. In doing so, it more closely accounts for reten- tion, dropouts, and in and out migration grade by grade. Percentages are calculated from the historical enrollment data to determine a reliable percentage of increase or decrease in enrollment between any two grades. For example, if 100 students enrolled in first grade in 2015-16, and that number increased to 104 students in second grade in 2016-17, the percentage of survival would be 104%, or a ratio of 1.04. Such ratios are calculated between each pair of grades or years in school over several recent years. The ratios used are the key factors in the reliability of the projections, given the validity of the data at the starting point. Each ratio encompasses collectively the variables that could account for an increase or decrease in the size of a grade cohort as it moves on to the next grade. Projecting kindergarten enrollment differs from other grades because very little data is available regarding the presence of 4- and 5-year-old children that may enroll in the district the following year. The industry standard for projecting kindergarten enrollment is to identify the percentage of county- wide live births that enroll in the district five years later. Using this approach, it appears that roughly 19% of countywide births become kindergartners five years later based on a three-year average. Assuming that this percentage holds true for the next three years, the district will have kindergarten enrollments of 62, 63 and 63 for the 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19, school years, respectively. Calaveras County Live Birth Data Vallecito Union School District Kindergarten Projection Year Births Kdg Year Actual Kdg Percent of Average % Births Five Years Later Actuals 0.19 2009 338 2013 59 0.1746 2010 346 2014 88 0.2543 2011 326 2015 48 0.1472 2012 346 2016 65 0.1879 Projection 2013 328 2017 62 2014 330 2018 63 2015 330 2019 63 2016 330 2020 63 Source for county birth data: State Department of Finance Vallecito Union School DiStrict 6 ENROLLMENT PROJECTIONS Enrollment can be projected three years into the future by using four years of historical enroll- ment data, employing the cohort survival method, and by projecting incoming kindergarten classes using a birthrate to future kindergarten class correlation. The enrollment projections by school are as follows: Historical Data Level 13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 District 581 578 566 596 Elementary 366 373 372 390 Albert Michelson 229 227 228 227 TK 8 8 11 7 Kindergarten 42 44 22 43 1st 31 38 41 24 2nd 38 33 42 38 3rd 49 34 34 46 4th 32 41 38 31 5th 29 29 40 38 Hazel Fischer 137 146 144 163 TK 5 2 7 Kindergarten 18 28 26 22 1st 22 19 25 28 2nd 22 19 21 26 3rd 16 28 20 24 4th 25 15 31 25 5th 29 29 19 31 Middle 215 205 194 206 Avery Middle School 215 205 194 206 6th 66 63 59 70 7th 76 68 66 63 8th 73 74 69 73 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 7 ENROLLMENT PROJECTIONS The following three-year enrollment projection shows a subtle increase in district enrollment, with an almost equal increase in enrollment at each elementary school. Because new residential development in the district is composed mostly of vacation rentals and retiree residences the enrollment projection was not augmented with the use of student generation factors. However, the cohort survival model considers moderate changes in residential activity. Enrollment in transitional kindergarten was calculated using a straight-line method by reviewing historical data. Because of the small number of special education students in self-contained classrooms, a projection for special education was not included. Enrollment Forecasts 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 592 611 608 Elementary 387 399 398 Albert Michelson 216 219 211 TK 9 9 9 Kindergarten 31 38 38 1st 40 29 36 2nd 25 41 30 3rd 38 25 41 4th 43 35 23 5th 30 42 34 Hazel Fischer 171 180 187 TK 6 6 6 Kindergarten 31 25 25 1st 22 31 25 2nd 28 22 31 3rd 30 33 26 4th 27 34 37 5th 27 27 37 Middle 205 212 210 Avery Middle School 205 212 210 6th 67 67 68 7th 73 70 70 8th 65 75 72 Any enrollment forecast has inherent limitations because it is based on certain criteria and assumptions rather than on exact calculations. Limitations include issues such as the accuracy of baseline data, unpredictable trends affecting residential housing, unanticipated changes in enrollment trends, and changing state, federal and local economic conditions. Therefore, the forecasting model should be viewed as a trend based on certain criteria and assumptions rather than as a prediction of exact numbers. To maintain the most accurate and meaningful data, the projection should be updated at least annually. By comparing actual enrollment against projections, the district should be able to identify whether enrollment is increasing, decreasing or remaining stagnant. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 8 ENROLLMENT PROJECTIONS Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 9 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND COST SAVINGS Financial Analysis and Cost Savings Scope of this Report While this report’s scope includes providing a rubric and scoring criteria for the school closure process, administration reported that this study may be used as part of a district strategic plan covering, among other things, a three-school model that the district used. The district’s deficit spending was reported as the main issue prompting the need for this study. A school closure must provide significant cost savings to adequately address the district’s deficit funding problem. Otherwise, it may be prudent for the district to explore other options, including revenue enhancement such as a parcel tax, for the electorate to vote on in a future election. If there are other reasons to close a facility such as the desire to change to a two-school model for educational program reasons, cost savings may not be the driving force in the analysis. However, the primary issue is in fact cost savings, it is crucial to determine the amount that would be realized before moving forward on school closure. Performing and evaluating the cost savings analysis should help guide the district toward different approaches; commencing a school closure process or moving toward other options, including revenue enhancement. Most California school districts are funded through the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) on a per pupil basis, with funding sufficient to cover the cost of district operations and personnel. In some communities; however, local property taxes exceed what the district would be entitled to under the LCFF. Those districts keep the “excess” local revenues and use them for any purpose. They are referred to as “basic aid districts” and constitute a minority of California districts, including Vallecito Union. Basic aid school districts can differ vastly in wealth because of the unique characteristics of prop- erty values within the boundaries of the district. School districts with nuclear power plants, oil wells or multimillion-dollar homes within their boundaries may be “deep” into basic aid status, meaning that excess property taxes vastly exceed what the district would receive from under the LCFF. Conversely, other basic aid districts may teeter between LCFF and basic aid status, making them remarkably sensitive to fluctuations in the assessed valuation of the district and LCFF. The Vallecito Union School District is in neither situation. Rather, the district was $857,455 into basic aid status as of the period two attendance date in fiscal year 2015-06, which amounts to about $1,590 per student above the LCFF entitlement. In general, enrollment decline does not affect a basic aid district in the same manner as an LCFF district. The prevailing school of thought among basic aid districts is that a decline results in more revenue (i.e. excess taxes) spread among fewer students, thus a higher amount of revenue per child but not more revenue overall. However, for small school districts without economies of scale, enrollment decline leads to a point of diminishing returns sooner than in a large school district. For example, a small school district may lose 30 students, a few from each grade level, so the district must create combination classes or make expenditure reductions elsewhere. Research on the effects of declining enrollment suggests that school districts are generally slow to reduce expenditures: • Class sizes begin to decrease because the staff is not reduced commensurate with enrollment decline. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 10 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND COST SAVINGS • Buildings are not fully utilized, but overhead costs continue at the same or higher levels. School districts’ operating costs do not decrease exactly proportionately to the decrease in enroll- ment. For example: • The cost to transport 50 students is the same as the cost to transport 70, presuming one bus and one driver. • There is no significant difference in the labor cost of making 150 lunches and 125 lunches. • There is no cost difference for a custodian to clean a room that houses 23 students and a room that houses 30 students. If a school closure is considered for budgetary reasons, the district should review the precise cost savings that would result. Generally, school closure will result in a savings of the following direct costs: • Site administration, e.g., principal, assistant principal • Support staff, typically mostly classified (nonteaching) staff, including front office staff, cafeteria workers, librarian, possibly nurse, custodial staff. Typically instructional aides “follow the students” and may relocate to the receiving schools. • Some utilities • Possible copier/printer lease costs. • Office supplies • Most maintenance costs, which may or may not result in cost savings, depending on where there are staffing reductions. A closure may also reduce the need to hire potential additional staff that may have been considered with all schools open. Teachers generally follow the students and would relocate to classes in the other schools (adjusting for any enrollment decline). In addition, some educational services provided at the closed school will relocate to the remaining schools and continue. There will be cost savings associated with the closure of a school. However, some of these costs savings may be offset by costs to preserve, monitor and protect the unused facility. Districts typically can see a savings of a gross$150,000 - $300,000 per year from a school closure. The analysis should include the cost to absorb displaced students at another campus and the cost of increasing site administrative and support costs commensurately. One-time facility costs for class additions, facility improvements or reconfiguration should be taken into account, but it should be acknowledged that they are typically only a first-year cost. Certain fixed costs, such as building and grounds maintenance, insurance, and some utility costs, will continue unabated. Moreover, a closed school site may result in additional security and vandalism costs because district personnel will not be present. Lastly, closing a school may incur one-time expenses related to the limited construction costs necessary to secure the site and protect the district’s capital investment. Appendix A-1 provides a partially populated table for closure of any of the three schools in the district. This table is only partially filled out with data. All rows would need to be analyzed, verified and calculated to a total gross cost savings. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 11 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND COST SAVINGS Appendix A-2 shows the preliminary one-time facilities costs for each of the four scenarios. The cost savings analysis shows gross savings that could be realized every year after implementa- tion of a school closure. In some scenarios, one-time facilities costs could reduce the cost savings in the first year only. FCMAT discussed five possible scenarios for Vallecito Union. The first one is to maintain the status quo, with no school closure. The other four scenarios are (in no order except alphabetical by last name of elementary school): • Close Hazel Fischer Elementary, Michelson becomes a K-3 or other configuration and Avery Middle becomes a 4-8 or other • Close Michelson Elementary, Hazel Fischer becomes a K-3 school, and Avery Middle becomes a 4-8 school. • Close both elementary schools and Avery Middle becomes a K-8 school. • Close Avery Middle School and both elementary schools become K-8 schools or other configuration. The preliminary analysis shows that Scenario #1, the Hazel Fischer closure ($416,000), could result in a significant gross savings because there would be little if any one-time facilities costs. Each of the other scenarios could result in fairly significant one-time facilities costs. Scenario #2, the Michelson closure, would require expanding or upgrading the kitchen facilities at one or both Hazel Fischer and/or Avery Middle because Michelson serves as the district’s central kitchen. The gross cost savings could be approximately $342,000 or less depending on the cost of the kitchen upgrade. Scenario #3 with both elementary schools closing and Avery Middle converting to a single K-8 school would require major kitchen remodel and major expansion of core facilities at both elementary schools. Gross cost savings could be as high as $750,000 (adding the cost savings for both Hazel Fischer and Michelson on the Cost Savings Analysis). Offsetting that savings in the first year would be the one-time facilities costs, which could run at $1 million or more. Scenario #4, with the closure of Avery Middle School, has the highest one-time facilities costs, because the two elementary schools would require major upgrade and expansion of core facilities for conversion to modern K-8 schools. Even though both elementary schools were originally operated as K-8 schools, their existing core facilities may not be adequate for current educational programs, including science labs, art rooms, a gym and a multipurpose room. Michelson could continue to operate the central kitchen for both remaining K-8 schools. Districts with closed unused school sites typically face the possibility of charter schools requesting to locate and lease or purchase these closed school facilities. There is an extensive process and many requirements that would need to be met by a new charter school, including enrollment minimums; however, it is important that districts be aware of state law surrounding charter school and facilities. Because of the significant unknowns of this issue, the operational costs of a new charter school are not included in Appendix A-1, Estimated Operational School Closure Savings/(Costs) spreadsheet, which is attached to this report. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 12 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND COST SAVINGS Scenario #4 could provide up to $475,000 in gross ongoing operational savings, but the one-time facilities costs could be multimillion dollar construction projects at both remaining elementary (converted to K-8) schools. Doing this analysis early will help the district board and staff determine the feasibility of a school closure process. Because the closure process is often so difficult and disruptive to a district and community, it will be important to analyze the true cost savings first. While the cost savings attributed to the closing of a school site can be reasonably forecast, it is much harder to predict whether school closure will result in a loss of revenue since some students may choose to attend a charter school instead of the district’s schools. This could result an increase in property tax transfers to charter schools. Recommendations The district should: 1. Compile the data and complete the cost savings analysis for each school. 2. Compile and analyze the data for the one-time facilities costs spreadsheet, and include those costs in the cost savings analysis. For the first year, the one-time facilities costs would reduce the overall ongoing annual savings because of school closure. 3. Based on this preliminary analysis, determine whether to proceed with a school closure. 4. Consider the potential for loss of students to a charter school and accompa- nying property tax transfer because of school closure. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 13 SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION School Transportation Bus Routes and Service The district operates two regular education bus routes. Route #1 is driven by a district employee, serves the eastern part of the district, and is composed of several runs to both Hazel Fisher Elementary and Avery Middle schools. Approximately 68 students ride the bus in the morning. The afternoon has two separate runs, one for Hazel Fisher that transports approximately 68 students and one for Avery Middle School that transports approximately 64 students. The route travels approximately 72.8 miles per day. Route #2 is driven by a driver supplied by the Bret Harte Union High School District, serves the western part of the district in the morning, and transports approximately 106 students. The afternoon has two separate runs, one serving Michelsen Elementary School that transports 45 students and another that serves Avery Middle School with 72 students riding. This route travels approximately 97 miles per day. In addition, the district has an agreement with the Alpine County Unified School District. The latter district’s school near the Bear Valley Ski Resort closed a few years ago. In exchange for its students on the west side of Ebbetts Pass attending Vallecito schools, the district transports Vallecito students in the Big Trees Village subdivision and east of Big Trees area to Vallecito schools at no charge. Approximately 19 students benefit from this service. Each family must agree to, sign and submit a “Transportation Waiver, Release and Assumption of Risk” form that releases Alpine County Unified from any liability related to the service. Vallecito Union students do not pay a fee for this service. It is difficult to predict if there would be an increased need for school transportation service if the district consolidated or closed one of its schools. Based on the information above, one regular bus route would likely need to be added to accommodate the needs of district families. Those who drive to any one of the schools because of its closeness to their home would most likely want bus service if the school of attendance were much farther. If such a consolidation were to be consid- ered, families should be surveyed about their need for transportation service. A consolidation or school closure could incur some additional special education transportation costs as well. The current formula with the Bret Hart Union High School District assigns a percentage for each participating district based on the one-way mileage from a student’s home to his or her program. If the special education programs were moved to a more distant campus, the percentage would increase, resulting in a higher cost for Vallecito Union. Approximately half the district’s students use regular education bus service. Families that live close to each school drive their children to school. If a consolidation of the district occurred, one additional regular bus route would likely be needed since the option of driving their children to school would no longer be desirable for some parents. In addition, depending on the location of the placement of special education programs, the cost of that program could increase since costs are distributed based on each student’s one-way mileage to his or her educational program. Recommendation The district should: 1. Conduct a survey to determine the enhanced transportation need if school consolidation is considered. At least one additional route will likely be necessary. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 14 SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION Agreements for Service The district has several agreements for pupil transportation. The agreement for special education transportation service with Bret Harte Union has been in effect for many years. The agreement articulates many aspects of the service, responsibilities and distribution of costs. However, it does not articulate the need for Vallecito Union to provide buses for this service, which appears to be an ongoing requirement. In addition, it does not articulate the potential for students to ride on routes that are not strictly Vallecito Union routes, nor does the agreement discuss the occasional logistical need for the program to use Vallecito Union buses for another service or use other buses for Vallecito service. These are informal agreements that have evolved over the course of time. The regular education transportation agreement with Bret Harte Union was developed in the spring of the 2015-16 school year, and the relationship is still evolving. The agreement for 2016-17 will also include the cost for a mechanic. This agreement also does not state that Vallecito Union must provide buses, although the district owns five coach-type buses, and also does not include any language about the occasional logistical need for the program to use Vallecito buses for other purposes or other buses for Vallecito needs. With this recent transition in service, the district no longer has a terminal. That is an important designation for the California Highway Patrol’s Motor Carrier Division, which inspects buses, terminal records and driver records. Vallecito and Bret Harte Union should meet with the CHP motor carrier inspector to determine how to address this new operating agreement. This issue has been resolved since FCMAT’s fieldwork. Another agreement for service is with Alpine County Unified School. That agreement does clearly articulate the role and responsibility of each party. Vallecito Union has a relatively long-term agreement with Bret Harte Union to provide special education transportation for Vallecito and Mark Twain Union School District. This agreement tracks the overall operational cost for the three districts and assigns a percentage based on the one-way mileage of each student transported from their home to the school they attend. Vallecito Union has approximately 14 special education students that are transported, amounting to approximately 19.7 % of the overall cost of the service. The agreement includes all operating costs such as bus maintenance, fuel, driver costs, etc.; however, one element is not articulated in the agreement. There is an understanding that each participating district contributes the neces- sary buses for the service. Vallecito’s service requires one bus and one spare. The district owns two special education buses that Bret Harte Union High School District operates for their special education service. The agreement should more clearly articulate the requirement to provide the route bus and spare bus that are necessary under the current agreement. Until the spring of the 2015-16 school year, Vallecito Union operated its own regular education transportation system. The district leased a bus yard and garage, employed a mechanic and had two bus drivers. Until recently, the district also had employed a driver who was a state-certified school bus driver instructor. Operating capability deteriorated during the 2015-16 school year, and the district ultimately entered another separate agreement with Bret Harte Union for regular education transporta- tion support. This agreement is less specific than the agreement for special education transportation. A new formal agreement for the 2016-17 school year has not yet been executed, but it includes changes. The 2015-16 agreement essentially charged Vallecito Union for providing a driver, substitute drivers, vehicle maintenance, driver training and oversight and field trip coordination. The district still employed one school bus driver. Vallecito Union owns five buses and utilizes them to provide this service; however, the agreement does not include a requirement to provide buses. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 15 SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION The district indicated that the 2016-17 agreement will also include the cost of a full-time mechanic. Vallecito Union’s mechanic retired and the district abandoned their leased transporta- tion yard and garage. The agreement is not yet available for inspection nor has it been executed, but the cost elements are known and articulated. The agreement also does not indicate who is responsible for fuel or parts for Vallecito Union buses. The current practice is that Bret Harte Union uses an open purchase order under Vallecito Union’s name at the local part houses and purchases parts for Vallecito’s buses on their accounts. If a part is not locally available, Bret Harte Union purchases the part and bills that back to Vallecito. Vallecito Union has a diesel fuel tank at Michelson School and can fuel the two buses parked there. The bus parked at Avery Middle School is fueled at a local gas station under Vallecito’s account. The district should ensure it receives the appropriate diesel fuel excise tax exemptions from the fuel supplier. Any time a Vallecito Union coach-type bus is fueled at Bret Harte’s facility, Vallecito is invoiced for the fuel. The district also has an agreement for service with Alpine County Unified stipulating the latter district will transport students living in the Big Trees Village subdivision and above Big Trees (east of the subdivision). Families must sign a waiver and parents would be responsible for trans- porting their own students in inclement weather or when the bus is without a driver. There is no cost for this service, which is used by approximately 19 Vallecito Union students, and Vallecito does not have a requirement to provide a bus or otherwise financially support it. Because the district no longer operates a maintenance terminal, it is likely that it and California Highway Patrol will need to discuss how this will be handled in the future. Each commercial vehicle operator in California is subject to CHP Motor Carrier Division inspections. School buses are subject to at least an annual inspection for every bus and a terminal inspection once a year. The “CA” number on the side of the bus identifies the motor carrier, or owner-operator of the vehicle, but is also related to the terminal where the vehicle maintenance is conducted and records are kept. As a part of the annual inspection, the CHP also inspects driver timekeeping records, the DMV pull notice (driver record that is annually generated and upon any activity), and drug and alcohol testing records. The employer typically maintains the DMV Pull Notice records, and is the custodian of the required federal drug and alcohol testing program records. Bret Harte Union has assumed at least the DMV Pull Notice responsibility. The district and Bret Harte Union discuss how to appropriately address this recent operational change. Whenever districts have cooperative arrangements for school transportation, they may need to help each other for logistical reasons in ways that are typically not included in the written agree- ments. A Bret Harte bus may need to serve a Vallecito route or trip, or a Vallecito bus serve a Bret Harte route or trip. Questions will inevitably arise regarding this need or practice. The districts should decide whether or not they want to develop language in the agreement to address this. Recommendations The district should: 1. Amend agreements with the Bret Harte Union High School District that require Vallecito Union to provide a number of buses for service. 2. Determine if the transportation agreements with Bret Harte Union on operational use of buses, fuel and parts should be more specific. 3. Discuss with the CHP Motor Carrier Inspector and Bret Harte Union the custodian of records for drivers and the official terminal for Vallecito Union. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 16 SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION Bus Fleet Approximately 265 students are transported on two regular education bus routes to Hazel Fischer Elementary School, Albert Michelson Elementary School and Avery Middle School. In addition, approximately 19 Vallecito Union students are transported on a route operated by Alpine County Unified under an agreement with the two districts. The district’s enrollment is approximately 599 students. Approximately 44% of the district’s students utilize regular education school transpor- tation service. The district covers 200.1 square miles, and many local families drive their students to and/or from school daily. The district owns five coach-type school buses and two van-type special education buses. The average age of the coach-type buses is 11.6 years. The average age of the van-type special educa- tion buses is 5.5 years, and the oldest bus is a 1997 Blue Bird coach-type bus. This is a relatively young fleet. The buses reportedly comply with all diesel exhaust emissions regulations as promul- gated by the California Air Resources Board. The district also owns and operates five other vehicles and two trailers that are now to be maintained by Bret Harte Union. The latter district provides oversight, vehicle maintenance and additional driver needs under an agreement in effect since mid 2015-16 for regular education school transportation. Transportation Department Funding and Finance Over the last few decades, school transportation has been one of the most poorly funded programs in California’s education budget. Until 1977, school districts reported their operational costs and were fully reimbursed in the subsequent year. However, California gradually reduced the percentage of reimburse- ment after the passage of Proposition 13. In the 1982-83 school year the state capped the funding for each school district based on 80% of the reported costs at that time. Over the years, cost-of-living adjust- ments (COLA) were occasionally granted, but over time, the static funding covered smaller percentages of the need as costs increased. In the 2007-08 school year, the funding covered approximately 45% of the statewide-approved costs. Individual districts varied greatly in this number depending on demographics and need. During the Great Recession, California reduced all categorical programs funding by approx- imately 20%, and that decrease to pupil transportation funding has never been restored. The 2013-14 school year was the first year of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Most categorical programs were folded into this funding formula; however, pupil transportation funding remained outside of it as an add-on to the base grant. Funding was frozen at the 2012-13 level, with a requirement for maintenance of effort (MOE), meaning that districts need to spend at least as much as they receive in each fiscal year. Vallecito Union is a basic aid district meaning it receives its funding from local taxes rather than the LCFF. The district received an apportionment of $262,931 for regular education home-to- school transportation in the 2012-13 school year. Basic aid districts had a “fair share” reduction of most categorical funds. For Vallecito Union, this amount was $210,778 that year, leaving a balance of $5,486 for home-to-school transportation. The district also received an apportionment of $56,498 for severely disabled/orthopedically-impaired transportation (SD/OI). That amount also was subject to a “fair share” reduction that amounted to $45,292, leaving a balance of $1,179. Since the LCFF, the funding districts received for transportation was based on this last year. Vallecito has an articulated amount of $262,735, but the overall prior categorical funds are still subject to a “fair share” reduction. Because the reduction amount is applied to all of those funds, it is impossible to determine the amount that transportation is specifically reduced. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 17 SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION For the 2015-16 school year, Bret Harte Union provided special education transportation. Approximately 14 students were transported at a cost of $56,191, resulting in an average cost of approximately $4,013.64 per student. The formula distributed costs by a percentage for each of the participating districts based on one-way daily student mileage. In addition to Vallecito, Mark Twain Union participates in this venture. The state no longer captures and posts school transportation data, but in the last year it did (2011-12), the average annual statewide special education transpor- tation cost was approximately $6,500 per student. The special education buses, which are owned by Vallecito Union, would be the only cost not captured by this amount and only if there were bus purchase or lease costs. The district greatly benefits from participating in this cooperative venture. Regular education costs for 2015-16 were reported as $232,017. For most of the 2015-16 school year, the district operated two routes, leased a shop and bus parking area and had a full-time mechanic position. Near the end of that school year, Bret Harte Union took responsibility for staffing one bus route and maintaining district buses and other vehicles. The two bus routes travel approximately 30,240 miles per year for regular education home to school transportation, resulting in an approximate cost of $7.67 per mile. The approximate cost per pupil per year for regular education home to school transportation is $758. Although the state no longer collects transportation data, the district’s cost per mile and cost per pupil are similar to the statewide average at the time the state ceased collecting this information. For the 2016-17 school year, the preliminary agreement with Bret Harte includes $31,728.58 for a driver, $62,164.72 for a mechanic and $8,000 for a portion of the director. Substitute driver costs will be invoiced separately. The district has budgeted for the bus driver it employs. The budgeted regular education cost for 2016-17 is $207,017, including approximately $20,361 of the MOT director’s salary. Dividing all costs in half indicates each route will cost approximately $103,508. If the district added another bus route; however, the incremental cost of only that route would more likely be approximately $58,246. This is the approximate cost of each of the existing bus routes minus the MOT Director’s salary portion, and the cost of the support of the mechanic and portion of the Bret Harte Union staff support that is charged to Vallecito Union. The district collects $100 a year per student for regular school transportation with reductions for families with multiple students. A reduced cost is available for one-way transportation, and fees can be paid quarterly; however, the option to make quarterly payments was recently eliminated, allowing only annual or semester payment. For the 2015-16 school year, 284 students were issued bus passes. Of those, approximately 58 students attended Hazel Fisher, and 91 attended Avery Middle School with the remaining attending Michelson Elementary. Approximately 147 students qualified for a free bus pass (approximately 51% of all bus passes). The district collected approximately $9,580 in bus pass revenue for the 2015-16 school year. For the first four or five weeks of school, the accounts payable/purchasing clerk spends most of her time, including some additional time over contract, processing bus passes. This would be the busiest time of the year, likely with less of a time commitment at the semester break. The district should evaluate whether to continue collecting fees. If their purpose of is to defray transportation costs, the amount collected most likely barely covers only the cost of processing the passes. The fee amount probably does not discourage bus ridership, so its elimination will likely not significantly increase bus ridership. More than half of the students riding buses receive a free pass. Increased fees may generate some additional income, but may also discourage bus ridership and contribute to traffic congestion at schools as more parents drive their students to and from school. Fees cannot be utilized to exceed the amount of revenue necessary to operate a pupil transportation program, and the district’s nominal state revenue covers all transportation costs. The district should eval- uate its fee policy and take appropriate action. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 18 SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION Recommendation The district should: 1. Evaluate its fee policy in light of the fee amount, cost to process and collect the fee and overall funding of the program. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 19 REVENUE ENHANCEMENT OPTIONS Revenue Enhancement Options If cost savings does not substantially reduce deficit spending the district should consider revenue enhancements. Such an option must provide significant revenue to slow or eliminate deficit spending in three years. Options such as charging transportation fees, raising fees for facility use or other legal fees generally cannot provide significant revenue. One option is to place a parcel tax on the ballot to be voted on by the electorate. A parcel tax requires a 2/3 majority for passage and typically is used by districts to provide revenue for educa- tional programs, special programs and staffing or technology. To determine whether voters may support a parcel tax, the district should consider hiring a public opinion survey firm to poll the community. The district should consider a firm that is experienced in K-12 school district parcel taxes and other ballot measures. The governing board should negotiate and approve an agreement with a survey firm at a regular board meeting. The agreement for survey services should include clear outcomes and deadlines. Examples of past surveys for other school district clients should be provided to the Vallecito Union administration in considering the contract. References should also be provided, and the district should contact them before agreeing to the contract. The district can use the general fund to pay for the survey since it is only informational and does not include advocate information. It is important for the district to consult with legal counsel before choosing a survey firm to discuss use of general fund and funding of a parcel tax campaign (which must be by outside campaign contributions only and cannot be funded by the district). The survey firm should apply its knowledge and research into the district, its demographics and past elections and likely voter databases. The survey firm should use a random sample set of citizens in the district. The sample amount should be proportional to the size of the district, and the firm should be able to explain that to the district in detail. The cost of a survey is also propor- tional to the number of those surveyed. For an example, a district with approximately 10,000 students enrolled may have a survey sample of 500. The firm should explain how it would conduct the survey, over what period of time and what those survey respondents should expect. Citizens will often contact school board members after being surveyed (sometimes because they approve and other times because they are annoyed) and board members should be informed to respond. The survey firm should also discuss with the district its approaches to problems with unanswered calls due to caller ID and mobile telephones. The survey firm should not use an internet survey because it is not random. The firm can also discuss pros and cons of various future election dates. In addition, the district should consult with legal counsel on election deadline requirements to determine possible future election dates. Recommendations The district should: 1. Consider placing a parcel tax on a future ballot if cost savings from a school closure are not sufficient to resolve deficit spending. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 20 REVENUE ENHANCEMENT OPTIONS 2. Consult with legal counsel before starting survey firm selection to discuss the service’s funding sources and campaign funding restrictions. 3. Commission a public opinion survey firm with experience in K-12 public school parcel tax elections. 4. Solicit proposals from several firms. 5. Discuss in detail the survey, how it will be conducted, and when. 6. Negotiate an agreement with the survey firm that provides clear outcomes with clear deadlines. 7. Check school district references and review past surveys from other school district clients before agreeing to a service agreement with a firm. 8. Obtain approval from the governing board for the survey firm at a regular board meeting. Explain that the general fund can be used for a survey because it is informational only. Provide information on what citizens can expect if contacted by the survey so that board members can respond to citizen inqui- ries. 9. Arrange for the survey firm to make a presentation at a regular board meeting. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 21 TIMELINE DEVELOPMENT Timeline Development Before public discussion about a school closure, the district should develop a timeline with suffi- cient lead-time for all activities recommended in this report. The ideal timeline would provide at least one year for public outreach and decision-making including a committee and board decision and public outreach after a decision is made and a second year for transition. The school closure would occur in the fall of the third year. Because Vallecito Union will start this process later in fall 2016, decision-making should begin in fall/winter 2016-17 and continue through spring 2017. It would be suspended in summer 2017 and the board would consider a decision in fall 2017 at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year. While this may appear disjointed and there may be a push toward a faster decision, the community needs ample time to hear about issue and provide input to the board at several meetings and hearing. The board also needs sufficient time to make a decision. A district often starts to consider school closure and expects to expedite the decision-making process. That often tends to cause community members to lose trust in the district and increases the level of opposition to a closure or even the consideration of a school closure. Because this process should involve significant community and committee involvement, the district should plan the schedule so that the major events occurs only during the school year and not during summer, holidays or other school breaks. This lengthens the process, but increases support from educators and the general community. A recommended abbreviated summary timeline is below. A detailed recommended timeline is included in the Process section, provided in both narrative and table format. However, this time- line may need to be extended if significant facility modifications are needed. Fall/Winter 2016-17 – Staff develops analysis, data gathering and PowerPoint presen- tation for a special board workshop to gauge support for consideration and school facilities committee formation. The superintendent may also wish to form an internal subcommittee, consisting of two board members, superintendent, CBO and curric- ulum director to direct the process. Superintendent also appoints the school facilities committee (or school closure committee, or school consolidation committee, etc.). Winter-Spring 2017 – No later than January 2017 – School facilities committee meet- ings start and end by spring 2017. Activities are suspended for summer 2017. Fall 2017 – Public hearings and community meetings are held. Board makes decision whether to close a school at a regular board meeting. Fall 2017 - Spring 2018 – Notifications for parents, planning for staffing, transition, facility disposition, moving. Summer 2018 – Move to receiving school(s). Close and secure school to be closed. Fall 2018 – School closure in effect starting 2018-19 school year. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 22 TIMELINE DEVELOPMENT Recommendations The district should: 1. Provide adequate planning time to ensure that all those affected are informed and have time for discussion in the community. 2. Use year one and into year two (2016-17 and beginning of 2017-18) for internal and external discussion to gauge board and community understanding, facilities committee formation and meetings and board recommendation. Because the current year is already underway, the district should consider extending this decision-making phase into the second year. In that case, after committee meetings in winter/spring 2017 and a break for summer, the board reconvenes on the issue, holds at least one public hearing (recommended at a regular board meeting and also at least at the affected school to be closed), and votes on a decision at a regular board meeting in the fall 2017. 3. Use year two (2017-18) for transition of staffing, facilities improvements and additions if needed, parent notification, schedule, planning for packing and moving, planning for disposition of equipment, supplies, library books and textbooks, bus schedules and routing changes. 4. Use year three (2018-19) to begin fall enrollments at the new school and for school closure. Secure the closed school as planned. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 23 SCHOOL CLOSURE DECISIONS–COMMUNITY IMPACT School Closure Decisions—Community Impact Whether it is in a large urban district or small rural district, school closure is usually highly disruptive and upsetting to many of those affected. Many schools are considered to be the center of the community, the location of many civic and district events, athletic games and activities, and the focus of economic development and growth. Many school and community groups have strong connections to a school. Therefore, districts considering a closure should realize its significance and the problems the shutdown may cause for future district endeavors. It is important to ensure the reasons a closure is being considered are clearly understood and discussed with all groups affected. For example, most school closures occur for financial reasons. Vallecito Union administration indicated the district is deficit spending, and reserves are being reduced every year. Board policy requires the district to maintain a 25% reserve (i.e. 25% of each year’s general fund expendi- tures). The CBO projects that in three years, district’s finances will fall below that level. Because of the importance of a possible closure, it should usually be a last resort to save money. The district should first take other steps and implement cost saving activities. The district should also initiate a public outreach strategy (whether in one year or over several years if there is sufficient lead time) to ensure all community groups -are aware of the district’s financial situation and the changes made to achieve cost savings. To avoid closure, the district can cut costs, obtain additional revenue or both. Three members of the five-person school board are in their first term, so there may be a lack of institutional memory. For this reason, board-member education is important in developing the support needed for the school closure process. The board should hold a special workshop to begin the public discussion of a possible closure. At that workshop, which would be in fall of year one, it should develop a Powerpoint presentation for all the affected groups that explains the following: • How districts are funded. • The district’s financial issues. • The exterior factors and events that contribute to the problems (fire, property assessments, etc.). • The steps the district took to deal with these issues and the cost savings realized. • The reasons the district must consider school closure. The explanation of district funding should be understandable to community members outside of education and should avoid acronyms and technical school-finance language. It should also cover the most important issues, including how basic aid funding works compared to the typical LCFF funding of other districts. A bulleted list should explain the cost savings measures that were taken or considered and why they were or were not implemented, with special cost savings amounts included. These typically include elimination of positions, renegotiation of employee contracts for pay and benefits, employee reductions, renegotiation of all other contracts, including outsourcing of services, utilities, leases of copiers/printers, leases of buildings, agreements with other agencies, special education services reconfigurations for cost savings, transportation agreements and fees and other areas. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 24 SCHOOL CLOSURE DECISIONS–COMMUNITY IMPACT District staff and administration indicate that they have already implemented cost savings in food services, transportation and classified staffing. They also reported large class sizes. The presenta- tion at a special board workshop(s) and other public meetings would help lay the groundwork for the eventual consideration of a school closure. The development of this PowerPoint/public outreach effort should also prompt continued discussion of strategy among administration and board members. Recommendations The district should: 1. Ensure that the decision-making process includes extensive education of the board and community on the rationale for school closure consideration, specifically, an explanation of how basic aid and financing functions, and how enrollment projections, special education costs, restrictions on how to use different funding sources, and board and state policies on required reserves and what the district has done to achieve cost savings or provide increased revenue. 2. Develop a presentation that provides information on achieving cost savings in a user-friendly bullet-style format with specifics on actual amounts saved and period of time of the savings (ongoing or one-time, for example). The examples should be specific and detailed. 3. Use the PowerPoint presentation to start the outreach effort to help educate the community about a possible school closure consideration. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 25 SPECIAL PROGRAMS Special Programs The district is a member of a special education local plan area (SELPA) operated by the Calaveras County Office of Education. The SELPA coordinates with school districts and the county office to provide a continuum of programs and services for disabled individuals from birth through age 22. Special education programs are located at all three of the district’s schools. District staff and administration indicated special education costs are high, and parents of special education students in other districts perceive that Vallecito Union provides significant services, including those for severely disabled students. A number of students require 1-to-1 services. The district also reports difficulties in attracting and recruiting special education teachers because of the relatively low pay scale compared to some other districts in the area. The district should continue to explore the most cost-effective methods to deliver special education services, including evaluating types of services, teaching staff and locations. Recommendations The district should: 1. Continue to explore the most cost-effective methods to deliver special education services, including evaluating types of services, teaching staff and locations. 2. Continue to work on improving the partnership with the county office SELPA to provide special education services that cost-effectively meet educa- tion standards. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 26 SPECIAL PROGRAMS Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 27 CHARTER SCHOOL ANALYSIS Charter School Analysis Charter schools can affect school districts in various ways and therefore need to be analyzed in making a decision on school consolidation. Proposition 39, approved in 2000, made substantive changes to the laws governing the provision of facilities to charter schools. The district is basically required to make sufficient facilities available to each charter operating in the district for it to accommodate all of its in-district students in conditions reasonably equivalent to those of regular district schools. Regulation defines “reasonably equivalent” as comparable in terms of students and grade-level organization, capacity and physical condition. Operating in the school district means either providing public education to district students or identifying at least 80 in-district students who are meaningfully interested in enrolling in the charter school for the following year. A charter school may operate in the district regardless of whether the district authorized it and whether it has a facility inside district boundaries. In that case, the district’s county office of education or the state board of education it must approved the charter. A school closure that makes a facility available for other uses may encourage new or existing charter schools to make a formal request for the use of those facilities under Proposition 39. The district would then need to go through the charter school facilities process as outlined in law. Moreover, if the closed site is declared surplus, the district must provide written notice to a charter school (17457.5) Proposition 39’s provisions can make it difficult for a district to deny facilities to charter schools. Vallecito Union would no longer have the closed school facility for its own uses or to lease/sell to other entities at a market rate. Closing a school can sometimes cause a small number of parents to look for alternative schools and districts, including the possibility of changing their children’s enrollment to an existing charter or opening a new one. One charter school operated by the county office affects the district’s enrollment. Because of the district’s basic aid status, the county office charges it in-lieu fees for every Vallecito Union student attending that charter. Approximately 26 Vallecito students are enrolled at the charter. Closing a school may or may not cause more parents to enroll students into the charter; however, losing additional students to the charter would cause a further reduction in district revenues. The district experiences some enrollment migration to the charter school operated by the county office, and enrollment projections should take this into account. Recommendation The district should: 1. Consider the potential for new or existing charter schools to assert a Proposition 39 or other request for facilities during or after the school consol- idation process. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 28 CHARTER SCHOOL ANALYSIS Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 29 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING Collective Bargaining The effect of school closure on collective bargaining can create issues regarding class size and reas- signment. When a school is closed, teacher reassignments may be accomplished either through a voluntary or involuntary transfer. School closure may also affect class size. It may be necessary to raise class size at certain grade levels depending on the number of students displaced by the closed school site. Combination classes may also be necessary if the school site that has been closed does not have enough students to fill entire classrooms at each grade level. Recommendations The district should: 1. Evaluate whether the number and grade level of students displaced from a closed school will result in increased class sizes and/or combination classes at other school sites. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 30 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 31 FACILITY ANALYSIS, INCLUDING SURPLUS SALE Facility Analysis, Including Surplus Sale If a decision is made to close a school, the district must decide what to do with the facility. Some important factors to bring into the decision-making process include the following: • The sale of property is determined by the market: does anyone want the property and at what price? What will the market bear or at some lower price? • Selling a property does not necessarily mean that the district will gain substantial revenue. The district is required to circulate to a long list of public agencies that the property is for sale for fair mark sale prior to disposition. • Any revenues from a sale or lease are restricted. • Once a property, particularly a Division of State Architect school facility, is sold, it is no longer available for the district to reopen as an educational facility if it is needed in the future. Construction of a typical 200-300-student elementary school can cost as much as $15 million or more (2016 dollars), plus land acquisition. Although the formation of a district advisory committee (DAC) is not required to close a school site, it is required when making the decision to lease or sell a closed school site. The California Department of Education’s “Closing a School Best Practices Guide” recommends that “The district must appoint a DAC to advise the governing board in the use or disposition of school buildings and vacant sites not needed for school purposes (see Education Code Section 17388).” As stated above, it is best if this committee is involved at the beginning of discussions about school closure, but it is a legal mandate to form and consult the committee about the use of school property once closure decisions have been made. Further guidance and recommendations from the Best Practices Guide are included in the next several paragraphs: The district must also keep in mind that the proceeds from the sale or lease of surplus property generally have restricted uses. Education Code Section 17462 states that the proceeds from the sale of district property must be used for capital outlay purposes or maintenance of district property, and that the proceeds from the lease with an option to purchase district property may be deposited in a restricted fund used for routine repair of district facilities. However, EC Section 17462 also states that these funds may be deposited in the general fund if the governing board and the state allocation board determine that the district has “no anticipated need for additional sites or building construction for the next ten years,” and has “no major deferred maintenance requirements.” The loss of state assistance for new construction, and modernization for 10 years usually deters districts from requesting these property disposition proceeds to be transferred to the general fund. The restricted use of funds described above has some exceptions. EC Section 17463 creates special circumstances for districts with enrollments of fewer than 10,001. This code section states in pertinent part that: Notwithstanding Section 17462, a school district having an average daily attendance of less than 10,001 in any fiscal year may deposit any and all interest earned on the funds derived from the sale in that fiscal year of surplus property into the general fund of the school district for any general fund purpose, subject to the following conditions: (a) Before that deposit, the school district shall submit to the State Allocation Board a capital outlay plan for the school district for a period of five years following that sale, together with a declaration of the finding by the governing board of the school district Vallecito Union School DiStrict 32 FACILITY ANALYSIS, INCLUDING SURPLUS SALE that the school facilities needs of the school district can be met over that five-year period without funding or other assistance from any state school facilities funding program. No later than the date upon which that initial five-year period concludes, the school district shall submit to the State Allocation Board a capital outlay plan for the school district for the subsequent five-year period. (b) Before the decision to place that interest money into the school district’s general fund, the governing board of the school district shall consider the extent to which it is necessary or appropriate to expend that money to meet the school district’s needs relative to capital outlay, facilities, modernization, and deferred maintenance. In addi- tion, as to any interest money deposited into the school district’s general fund pursuant to this section, the governing board of the school district shall consider the extent to which it is necessary or appropriate to expend the money to meet the school district’s needs relative to ongoing maintenance before expending that money for any other purpose. (c) A school district that deposits interest into its general fund pursuant to the authority set forth in this section shall not be eligible during the 10-year period described in subdivision (a) for funding or other assistance under Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 17000) or Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 17085) of Part 10, or any other state school facilities funding program. (d) If a school district seeks state funding pursuant to Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 17000) of Part 10, Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 17085) of Part 10, or any other state school facilities funding program, on or after the expiration of the 10-year period specified in subdivision (c), any state funding received by the school district from the program shall be reduced by any remaining funds derived from the sale of that surplus property by the school district and any unencumbered interest earned on those funds. In addition to limitations on how the proceeds from the sale or lease of surplus property can be used, there are requirements specifying to whom the property must first be offered. These restric- tions are complicated. The state board of education can waive many, but not the items listed below (these apply to property disposed through outright sale or through lease with an option to purchase): • Land must first be made available for use for low-income housing and for park and recreation purposes (EC Section 17459); • Land must be made available to specified park and recreation departments (EC Section 17464[a]). Other pertinent Education Code sections that describe how the property can be disposed of are summarized here. These sections can be waived by action of the state board of education: • Land must be offered in writing to the director of general services; regents of the University of California; trustees of the California State University; the county and city; any public housing authority; or by public notice to various public agencies and non-profit charitable institutions. A time line to reply to the public notice is specified as 60 days after the final public notice. (EC Section 17464[b]) Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 33 FACILITY ANALYSIS, INCLUDING SURPLUS SALE • The board must by a 2/3 vote adopt a resolution to lease or sell specific pieces of property, must specify a minimum price, and must fix a time when sealed proposals will be received and considered (EC Section 17466) • The board at an open meeting shall accept the highest sealed bid (EC Section 17472) • The board shall accept oral bids at an open meeting and shall accept the highest bid (if the highest bid is oral, then it must exceed the price or rental terms by at least five percent) (EC Section 17473) It is important to consider seeking waivers to the sections above that may prevent the district from choosing the most desirable new owner or lessee of its surplus property. A district’s obliga- tion to its community is sometimes more important than realizing the highest price from district property. It is essential that a district first confer with legal counsel before initiating the sale or lease or property. Recommendations The district should: 1. If a school has been closed and a decision is made to explore its sale or long-term lease, retain the services of a school attorney who is experienced in public school district surplus property law. This will provide the district with the timeline, notification requirements, board resolutions and other docu- ments. Consult with and obtain the assistance of that attorney throughout each step of the process. 2. Consider the restrictions placed on proceeds from the sale of surplus property prior to depositing those proceeds into the general fund. 3. Consider the implications of depositing proceeds of a sold school site into the general fund pursuant to EC Section 17462. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 34 FACILITY ANALYSIS, INCLUDING SURPLUS SALE Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 35 SCHOOL CLOSURE PROCESS School Closure Process The district requested an analysis using criteria and scoring rubric that are accepted best practices recommended by the California Department of Education. This report provides templates, processes and guidelines, with some of the data filled in, but the district must develop, gather and compile all the relevant data as part of the process. Providing that data is a larger project that is beyond the scope of this report. If the school district decides to proceed with this process, it should consider hiring an outside consultant to help staff compile and prepare the data, prepare the numerous documents required for a school facilities committee and help the district avoid the common mistakes and implement the process using the guidelines that are detailed in this report. A district that is deciding on school closure and not the sale or lease of real property is permitted to appoint the district advisory (or 7-11) committee, but a less restrictive committee may be more useful. These are often referred to as the district reorganization, school facilities, or school closure committee. These two committees have distinct roles and responsibilities, and members usually have different interests. Therefore, a district may benefit from separating the issues of school closure and prop- erty sale into two different committees. School Closure Process Guidelines 1. Communication: Communication with the public and staff is crucial so that the process is open and equitable. It is essential for a process to be proposed and approved by the board. It should include potential timelines for committee work, encourage open discussion among board members, and provide ample opportunity for public and staff comment. 2. Clear committee roles and responsibilities: When the board decides to employ a committee process, the role and responsibilities of the committee must be clearly identified. The committee’s role should be to provide a rank ordering of schools for closure using the rubric provided by FCMAT as a baseline. Because school closure should be seen as just one (although very visible and difficult) possible budget cut, the decision of whether to close a school belongs to the board. 3. Accurate, internally consistent and justifiable data: The data and information produced and distributed by staff must be accurate, internally aligned and externally consistent throughout the process. If a number or percentage is found to be inaccurate, the district’s credibility with the public could be jeopardized. 4. Adequate time for the process: At least five meetings of the facilities committee should be held. Depending on individual circumstances, some districts have completed a school closure and boundary realignment process within three months. One advantage to an abbreviated timeline is that the community has less time to mull a difficult decision. However, a quick time- line may create a perception that the decision is rushed, and the community and staff had insufficient time for input. The key is striking a balance between having sufficient time to study the data and provide for adequate public Vallecito Union School DiStrict 36 SCHOOL CLOSURE PROCESS comment while implementing the decision in a timely manner to realize the operational savings. 5. Respect for committee members’ time and effort: Meetings should begin and end as scheduled. A greater number of short meetings is more productive than a few long meetings. Better decisions come from committee members who are fresh and alert. 6. Acknowledgment of the outcome: A committee’s recommendations may be unanticipated, and the ultimate decision on school closure lies with the board. However, if the board does not agree with the committee’s recommen- dations, the community may lose confidence in the process. The board should respect and acknowledge the time, energy and emotional upheaval that can be part of a school facilities committee’s work. 7. Separate school closure and boundary change issues: In most cases, it is important to make the decision to close a school before focusing the public process on the necessary boundary changes. A combined analysis will often result in the committee or parents getting focused too early on specific boundaries instead of analyzing and determining which school is most feasible to close. This could affect the outcome of the study. 8. Committee Membership: a. Internal Committee: One of the first issues that must be addressed is the selection of committee members. Each approach has pros and cons. The district may choose to create an internal staff committee made up of these members at the minimum: the business manager, the facilities/mainte- nance director, the transportation director, special education director and educational services/curriculum director, a principal and representative of the certificated and classified staff. An internal committee would review the data/factors and criteria, make a recommendation and present them to the board. Ideally, the proposal/recommendation then would be presented at several community meetings to obtain public comment (more detail on the public meetings below). The board would hear as much public comment as it deems necessary and make a decision with a vote or resolution. b. Community-Based Committee: If a community-based committee is appointed, equity in representation is important to establish credibility with the community. i. At a regular governing board meeting, the board should approve the formation of a committee, defining the number of members and categories of membership, but should direct the groups to select their own representative, with the superintendent recommending the management and staff representatives. ii. Administration/staff should recommend to the board whether the meetings should be open according to the Brown Act, closed or Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 37 SCHOOL CLOSURE PROCESS open to the public but not operating under the Brown Act. This is a critical decision. Under the Brown Act, all proceedings are held in public, and agendas and minutes are available to the public no less than 72 hours prior to the meeting. The district should publish the agenda, minutes and documents one week before each meeting along with posting these on the district website. Agendas and minutes should be distributed to all school sites, with instructions for posting. iii. The district should clarify the procedural rules the board will use to operate (e.g., Robert’s Rules, Rosenberg’s Rules, CSBA guidelines, etc.) and provide this information at the first meeting of the committee. This will also clarify how decisions will be made, including how votes are taken and what constitutes a majority or passing vote. iv. Board members should consider not attending committee meetings. Board members or the superintendent will often inadvertently intimidate community members, parents and teachers, reducing participation and affecting the credibility of the process. v. Each school should be represented, but not overrepresented. School communities that see themselves as possible targets of closure, espe- cially, may attempt to stack the committee so that voting blocs are formed when the ranking or closure decisions are made. vi. The staff member facilitator should chair the first meeting; however, the committee itself should elect a chair from its ranks at the beginning of the second meeting. At the end of the first meeting, the facilitator should ask for nominations and self-nominations for chairperson to be sent by email. These should include a paragraph on why that person wishes to be chair. The nomination information for the candidates for chairperson should be included in the agenda packet for the committee for the second meeting. Whether an internal committee or a community-based committee is formed to study the school closure issue, legal advice on Brown Act issues should be obtained before the committee is formed. Recommendations The district should: 1. Consider hiring an outside consultant to help facilitate the school facilities committee process. 2. Develop a plan describing how the district will communicate with the public about the process including timelines, audience, and modes of communication. 3. Identify whether the committee will be community based or internal. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 38 SCHOOL CLOSURE PROCESS 4. Develop roles and responsibilities for one of the two options: communi- ty-based or internal committee. 5. Review existing data documentation and refine, update, and revise as needed. Make sure to provide ample time for staff to compile the data. Ensure the data is consistent across all documents. 6. Consider beginning this process in fall 2016 with completion in 2018, which will provide time to have an inclusive process, balance staff workload, and allow the community to accept the outcome. 7. Discuss the applicability of the Brown Act with legal counsel before a school closure committee is formed. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 39 SUMMARY TIMELINE FOR SCHOOL CLOSURE Summary Timeline for School Closure Winter 2016 – FCMAT provides beginning analysis, schedule, process and consultation with District staff. Winter 2017 – Special board workshop on district finance 101, facilities and program needs and possible school consolidation. This is a public workshop and it starts the public “official” discus- sion of school closure decision-making process. Winter 2017 – Pending board support to move forward, superintendent appoints school consol- idation or facilities strategic plan committee. Staff develops the data, schedules the meetings of the committee, and general schedule of the entire process. Winter 2017 – (Optional) Superintendent may also wish to appoint an internal superintendent’s facility advisory committee, made up of staff and two board members. This committee’s purpose would be to help direct the school closure decision-making process. Winter 2017 – Spring 2017 – The committee holds meetings using the templates and criteria and scoring rubric provided by FCMAT and/or other consultants. There should be at least five meetings because of the substantial amounts of information presentation, discussion and deci- sion-making required. Spring 2017 – The committee provides recommendations to the board while a public hearing occurs at the regular board meeting. Spring 2017 – Additional public hearings to provide public input to board on the possible closure. Summer 2017 – Activities are suspended. Fall 2017 – Public hearings and community meetings (held at the school or schools recom- mended for closure) are held. Fall 2017 – Board approves a decision to close or not close a school, starting in fall, 2018. Fall 2017 – Immediately after board decision, district provides letters and other notification to all parents in the district, providing enrollment requirements and options, with deadlines, provides schedule of events. Fall 2017 – Spring 2018 - Human Resources Department works with collective bargaining units on displaced teacher policies, involuntary relocations, any layoffs or other changes in both classi- fied and certificated staffs. Fall/Winter 2017-18 – Continue working on the plan and schedule for transition imple- mentation: for staffing, transition, hiring a moving company (recommended), disposition of equipment, textbooks, library books at closing school, storage issues, facilities security, including fencing plans, disposition of technology devices and components at closing and receiving schools, alarms and keying at closing school. Fall – spring 2017-18 – District plans and designs any school facilities improvements including additional or relocated classrooms or portable classrooms and renovations/remodels. January/February 2018 – If needed, submit construction project plans to Division of the State Architect (DSA) no later than this time to be ready to bid the project. Spring/Summer 2017 – Implement facilities construction projects as needed. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 40 SUMMARY TIMELINE FOR SCHOOL CLOSURE Spring 2018 – Teachers pack their personal belongings. Summer 2018 -- District coordinates with summer construction project on the move plan: packs, relocates to the receiving or other schools, disposes of, stores, sells (under board policies and state law) equipment, furniture, supplies, library books and textbooks. Fall 2018 – School opens at the remaining open and receiving schools. District provides continuing guidance and assistance to parents coming from closed school and to parents and staff at receiving school(s). School Closure Timeline in Detail January-February , 2017 Because the level of board support or education about school closures at Vallecito Union is unknown, a special board workshop should be held to start the public discussion, discuss with the board the process that will be used and obtain approval for a superintendent-appointed facili- ties committee (there should be an action item for that question) and make a presentation on the reasons and background of the district’s financial situation and need to consider school closure. The goal of the special board workshop is to determine whether to proceed with the school closure process including the formation of a school facilities committee Some summary data on facilities, status and explanation of deficit spending (definition) and legal and regulatory issues on school closure will be needed for this special board workshop. Concurrently, staff should prepare all data related to the criteria that the school facilities committee facilities committee will use to help make its recommendations. Data should include the following (with some samples included in the appendix section of this report): 1. Historical information on school closures in California (Appendix A-3.) 2. Historical information and trends of district finances 3. Explanation of basic aid compared to LCFF school district funding and implications for the district and school closure 4. Cost-saving accomplishments, such as staff reductions, salary and benefit reductions, program reductions or changes, cost-efficiency measures, energy savings, contract renegotiations (such as copier/printer leases, maintenance agreements, facility use agreements, transportation agreements) 5. Revenue-gaining accomplishments 6. Historical and projected enrollment (three years minimum) – Note: One-year projections are typically not adequate to provide credible evidence to a board or committee of a trend. The enrollment projections must include adjust- ments for any projected residential growth in the district boundaries (contact county planning department for information). 7. Facilities: capacity, age, number of portables, past modernization projects, acreage.(Appendix A-4). Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 41 SUMMARY TIMELINE FOR SCHOOL CLOSURE Vallecito Union has a limited administrative and managerial staff to accomplish this data-gath- ering and presentation. The Facilities Department along with the Business Department is typically the lead in a school closure process. Vallecito does not have a Facilities Department, so the Business Department and superintendent’s office will need to spearhead this effort. The maintenance director has some facilities and maintenance data, but it needs to be entered into spreadsheets and databases in so it can be updated and used for many purposes, not just a school closure process. The data should be consistent, accurate and reliable and formatted into tables, charts and narra- tives that provide user-friendly, jargon-free (or with explanation) information to the board and ultimately to the school facilities committee and community at large. The district does not have a facilities master plan that contains all facilities information in a cohesive and integrated manner. Available documents include a developer fee justification study, demographic study 2009-10 by Schoolworks, and other documents. While developing a facility master plan is not feasible before the desired school closure analysis process, it is important for the district to update and prepare detailed facilities classroom capacity, site capacity, core facilities capacity, facilities age and condition and other information in a cohesive format for use by a school facilities committee. The district should consult with its legal counsel regarding any legal issues that should be consid- ered during the process. These include requirements of the Brown Act and how the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) may apply to school closure. Legal opinions vary, but the CEQA process is likely to be applicable at some point. This can be because of potential environmental impacts such as traffic and air quality at receiving schools. The district should make sure to include CEQA activities in the time line for closure determina- tion and boundary change processes. Staff/administration should present a proposal for a school closure study process, including the creation of a community-based committee at a regularly scheduled governing board meeting. The proposal should outline the timeline, scheduled committee meetings and date for board meetings and board action (a sample staff memo to the board is attached as Appendix A-5 to this report). The proposal should also provide recommendations of membership by constituency for the internal and community-based committee with a maximum of nine to 11 people, if possible. Ideally, the board should make a decision on which type of committee and process it would like to use at the December 2016 meeting. If the external committee process is selected, the written invitation for membership should come from the superintendent to each entity below, which includes explanation of the purpose of the committee (sample is provided as Appendix A-6). • One parent from each school selected by each school principal or PTA, approved by principal. • One classified staff member from each school (selected by classified bargaining unit and approved by superintendent). • One teacher from each school (selected by the teachers’ association and approved by superintendent). • Principals of Michelson Elementary and Avery Middle schools. (Note: Because the superintendent is also the principal of Hazel Fischer Elementary School, he should not be a member of the committee, but should attend all committee meetings as staff. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 42 SUMMARY TIMELINE FOR SCHOOL CLOSURE • District business manager. • Educational program/curriculum director or assistant superintendent. • Two to three community members from the business, civic, and government communities. These could include Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, staff from Calaveras County planning or economic development department. Representatives from any of these constituencies should be selected by the membership. One district employee who is familiar with the business and facilities issues (CBO) and one Educational Services administrator could be assigned to share duties as co-facilitators of the committee. Their role is to direct the process, provide the data and research for the committee, ensure compliance with the Brown Act and distribution of agenda, minutes and materials and perform all other administrative duties. Alternatively, many districts hire an outside consultant to assist with these duties, and the consultant may facilitate the committee proceedings during each meeting. Staff should publish a fact sheet about the process on the district website and distribute it to all school sites and selected community locations (a sample school facilities committee and process information sheet is attached as Appendix A-7). No later than mid-February 2017 Committee membership nominations by entities listed above should be complete. District sends school facilities committee agenda package to committee members. District posts the agenda package to its website. Mid- to Late-March/April 2017 No fewer than five meetings are anticipated to be necessary to cover all the data, discussion and recommendations activities of the committee. Meetings should be held no more frequently than every two weeks because of the amount of preparation necessary between each meeting, including posting agendas and minutes, posting information and data and responding to ques- tions and media requests. No later than April/May 2017 At a regular governing board meeting, the board should hear a report from the committee, including any minority reports or statements from dissenting committee members; the board should hold a public hearing on the issue and receive public comment. The board may accept or reject the report. A vote need not be taken at this meeting, but perhaps at the next board meeting or following month after the board has an opportunity to consider the recommendations of the committee. April/May 2017 – After the committee report, the district may choose to move forward and hold a public hearing at a board meeting and a community meeting at the school site recom- mended for possible closure by the committee or may wait until Fall, 2017. June – August 2017 – Activities are suspended during the summer. August/September 2017 – Board holds a public hearing and discussion on the possible school closure and committee recommendation. August/September 2017 – District holds one or more community meetings, with at least one held at the school that may close. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 43 SUMMARY TIMELINE FOR SCHOOL CLOSURE September 2017 – At a regularly scheduled board meeting, the board takes action on school closure recommendation, including which school or schools to close, and requests staff to come back with an implementation plan and schedule. CEQA action should not be necessary at this time, but may be needed as part of the board action on any facilities projects to be done in Summer 2018 as part of the closure process. September 2017 – One day after the board meeting, district sends notices to all parents in the district, provides information to the media. Notices include the timeline and schedule of events and activities from now until fall 2018, when closure is effective. September 2017 – throughout 2017-18 school year -- District sets up school transition plan team, including CBO, curriculum director, maintenance director, technology director. Team develops a timeline and schedule of necessary activities. Many items and issues need to be analyzed and decided. Some of these issues include: disposition (relocation, leaving in place, disposal, sale per law) of equipment and furniture at the closing school. Textbooks generally follow the students and will be relocated (not in all cases; perhaps new textbooks are anticipated and old textbooks will need to be disposed of). Library books sometimes are relocated with the students if there is adequate space in the other school libraries or sometime are left or disposed of. Other significant items include disposition of all technology, including devices (generally relocate), classroom technology (projectors, TVs, screens, audio systems and any other built-in/ installed equipment. Keying, fencing, security cameras and intrusion alarms must be updated when the move is to occur. Fire and police must be notified and provided with any new site plans, fencing and gate information so that they will still have access. September 2017 – throughout 2017-18 school year -- Human resources director and staff work with certificated and classified bargaining units on the transition, any involuntary relo- cations, seniority issues, layoffs if needed. District provides the moving plan to teachers and classified staff when ready, including packing, disposal, moving, issues around compensation for these activities. September 2017 through Spring 2018 -- District maintenance/facilities staff plans and designs with design professionals any facilities improvements requiring architectural services, including relocation of portable buildings, installation of new portable classrooms and facilities, remodels and reconfigurations of rooms and buildings, with the goal of DSA submittal of plans in January/ February 2018, bidding in spring, 2018 and construction starting the first day of summer vaca- tion 2018, if not earlier. Spring 2018 -- District hires moving company and works with it on the move project, including coordination with maintenance director to work around any construction projects. May/June 2018 – Teachers and staff are provided with the move project plans, including timelines, and packing/disposal and moving implementation. Teachers and custodians should be provided with sufficient trash containers and dumpsters to clear out classrooms of unneeded items, should be provided with moving boxes and labels with instructions (provided by moving company) Summer 2018 – The moving process begins immediately following last day of school and is coordinated with any construction project occurring at the receiving school(s). Depending on how the closed school site will be used, maintenance/facilities should begin the appropriate project including new construction or renovation if needed. New security measures such as keying, fencing or other barriers, intrusion alarm changes, and possible security camera installa- tion should be considered and completed no later than fall 2018. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 44 SUMMARY TIMELINE FOR SCHOOL CLOSURE August 2018 – School opens at remaining schools. Maintenance staff provides security moni- toring and maintenance as needed at the closed schools. Additional fencing may be needed and should be installed. August 2018 – Communication to board at regular board meeting regarding the move project status. Recommendations The district should: 1. Hold a special board workshop so the board can decide publicly whether to move forward with the school closure process with a school facilities committee. A preliminary schedule of activities should be presented and approved. 2. Consult with legal counsel on the possible committee process, including issues such as the Brown Act and CEQA compliance. 3. Gather and compile comprehensive data for the school facilities committee covering the criteria the committee will use to make recommendation. This includes facilities, enrollment, cost savings comparisons, and closure scenarios. The data needs to be consistent, accurate and reliable and formatted into tables, charts and narratives that provide user-friendly, jargon-free (or with explanation) information to the board and ultimately to the school facilities committee and community at large. 4. Provide some brief summary information at the special board workshop regarding school district financing, deficit spending, cost-cutting accomplish- ments, enrollment and facilities information. 5. If the board decides to move forward with the school closure decision-making process, gather and compile the data necessary for the school facilities committee to analyze and discuss this topic. 6. Create a school facilities committee, appointed by the superintendent, with at least five meetings. 7. Follow the guidelines and schedule of committee meetings, board presen- tations, public hearings, community meetings before the board decision on school closure. 8. Provide regular and open communication, open committee meetings and website information on the process to the community and media throughout the process. 9. Create an implementation team for the transition to school closure. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 45 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED School Facilities Committee Meetings and Data Needed A community-based committee (can be called school facilities committee or other names) will require careful and timely facilitation to complete the school closure process. Staff should provide the committee with the board-approved document detailing the purpose and goals of the committee, school closure criteria and rubric, and information on fiscal, facilities, transportation, educational program and demographic impacts on the district should various schools close. An outside consultant can be used to oversee the data-gathering and analysis and to facilitate the committee agendas, committee packets and process or the district may wish to lead the effort in-house. Staff facilitators of the school facilities committee should not be seen as attempting to steer the committee to any particular decision. Meetings should be transparent, and proceeding in a fair and equitable manner with consideration of the community culture to ensure all parties are represented and have a voice. The committee chair should be elected by the group at the second meeting. Sometimes the group will question the need for a chair from the group itself. It is important that a chair be appointed but not required. The chair should provide leadership for the committee and will keep the meeting schedule and agenda moving forward in a timely manner. The staff and chair should meet prior to each meeting to go over the agenda packet and data to be presented to make it easier for the chair to run the meetings effectively and efficiently. How to Decide Which School to Close One approach is to rank-order the schools based on criteria that are generally used following best practices and that the committee can agree on first. The district should anticipate and notify the group that there will be at least five meetings. Several meetings are necessary because most people in the group need time to absorb the rationale for the group’s formation and to learn about and process all the data that will be presented to them. The meetings’ length should be scheduled for no less than 1½ hours or preferably two hours each. If the committee follows the Brown Act, the agendas should follow that format, which is similar to a board meeting. This includes providing an opportunity for public comment, both off and on the agenda, time limits on speakers, and prohibition of the committee taking action on items that are not on the agenda. The meeting agendas and process that follows in this report reflect a more formalized and quan- titative analysis approach to the committee’s task. The district may wish to include some of the documents, but make more informal rankings without following a strict quantitative ranking formula. A combination of quantitative and qualitative judgment and ranking is probably the best and most realistic way to approach this issue. However, ongoing education may be required for the public to understand that the final recommendation will be the result of a combination of objective, databased decisions and other qualitative factors. How many meetings are needed? It is difficult to estimate the number of necessary meetings because the amount of explanation and discussion the committee will need is unknown. Every district committee and members are unique. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 46 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED However, typically there should be no fewer than five meetings because of the large amount of complex information that will be presented and needed by the school facilities committee to develop a recommended ranking of schools, and the need for the district to take adequate time for the committee to implement the process. If the committee members feel that they are rushed into making a recommendation, the process will not be trusted. Because they are typically held in late afternoons or evenings, it is easy for committee members to become fatigued if the meetings are too long. Therefore, they should last no more than 1½ to two hours. General Committee Process 1. Role of the committee should be agreed on. 2. The committee should review and agree on philosophical/goal statements. 3. The relevant staff presents the data that supports the factors to the committee. These factors include enrollment, facilities, site size, school size, location of school, transportation, special education, educational programs, cost savings and one-time facilities costs. 4. The committee decides which factors ultimately are to be considered as part of the decision, checking to make sure that the factors and ranks continue to match with the philosophical/goal statements. 5. The staff fill in the criteria ranking matrix or points-based system is as data is presented to the committee. The matrix is filled in with both the data and the resultant rank of each school. 6. After seeing the objective ranking of the schools, the committee may decide to use that ranking or vote to change it. 7. The committee formulates the wording of a recommendation of the final ranking to be submitted to the board and agrees on this recommendation. 8. The committee members attend a board of education meeting to present the recommendation. 9. Groups and organizations use many different ranking methods. This report includes a simple unweighted ranking using the factors from the philosophical goal statements and background information. Even the simple unweighted ranking is complex, and the district may wish to use an outside consultant to help gather the data, present the data and facilitate the school facilities committee meetings and process. 10. Alternatively, the points-based method provides for less formal quantitative analysis, and the school facilities committee may be comfortable with that. This is presented toward the end of the report. Meeting Agendas and Process – Beyond the agenda items listed below, each meeting should begin with establishment of a quorum, approval of agenda and approval of minutes. The district can use its board agendas as templates. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 47 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED Meeting #1: Sample documents are included in the appendices listed below). 1. Welcome/Introductions 2. Committee overview, roles and responsibilities and timeline (Appendix A-8) 3. One of the most important areas is for the committee to understand and agree on the role of the committee, which should be: This committee’s role is to rank order the schools for possible closure, if the board of education decides to close a school. The committee’s role IS NOT to try to figure out alternative solutions to the district’s financial challenges. The board may wish to broaden or include other goals for the district, but that needs to be agreed upon by the board prior to the committee’s first meeting. 4. Ground rules of the committee (Appendix A-9) 5. Explanation of public distribution of information, posting meeting agendas and minutes. Explanation of public conduct of meeting. (Appendix A-10) 6. (Background data) school closures in California (Appendix A-3) – also presented at special board workshop 7. Budget Information for Vallecito Union – (using special board workshop PowerPoint presentation and see simplified template as Appendix A-11) Committee agreement on working principles and procedures of the committee, including Robert’s Rules of Order or other procedures that the district requires of committee activities, committee member obligations on voting, and agreement that the committee shall work within the district’s strategic plan or mission statement. The staff facilitator should discuss school facilities committee meeting protocols including respectful listening and talking, no cell phones or other interruptions. Facilitators should explain the general method and workflow of the committee. The facilitator should inform the committee that it should elect a chairperson at the start of Meeting #2. Ask for anyone who wants to be chair to send in nomination information either for himself or herself or for someone else that he or she wish to nominate. Staff should include these nominations in the agenda packet for Meeting #2. Meeting #2: Sample documents are included in Appendices listed below. Because of the large amount of data, it will be important for the facilitator to gauge how many items to include in each agenda, with a balance between efficient use of volunteers’ time and the need to take adequate time for the process. 1. Sample school facilities committee meeting agenda – use board of education format for quorum, agenda, minutes approval, public comment (Appendix A-12) 2. Election of chairperson and alternate chair: This should be by vote of committee members after those who wish to become chair give a statement. Introduction to philosophical goal statements and criteria to be used in ranking schools (Appendix A-13). Committee members and the public will Vallecito Union School DiStrict 48 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED be eager to review the numbers so they can evaluate their schools with others in the ranking process. However, it is important not to assume that everyone shares the same values. Philosophical or goal statements will provide the underpinning for later discussions and decisions on ranking order. 3. Budget information review and discussion (using meeting #1 Information and responses to any questions from the committee in meeting #1) 4. Current, historical and projected enrollment (more than one year of projec- tions) Typically, the school with the smallest enrollment would rank higher on closure consideration because 1) possible more unused classrooms at that school; 2) smaller number of families and students disrupted in the closure process. Smaller schools also have a higher per student operational cost due to set overhead personnel costs. Educational programs of the district – list all educational programs, approx- imate enrollment and locations, facilities used, other issues that may be pertinent to the process 5. (Background data) history of the district (formation, district merges and unifications, etc.) As an example: • Education services administrator should present information to the SFC regarding education programs and locations, including effect on services and possible loss or change in revenue for Title I or other programs. • The special education director presentation/information should present information to the school facilities committee on special education programs, including the county extended day programs and any effects on that program from closure of specific schools. This should include effect on students and program, facility costs to remodel receiving schools and any additional transportation costs. • Hazel Fischer and Michelson have county extended day programs on each campus. Hazel Fischer c (2016-17) enrolls 18 students in after-school care. Michelson has 27 students enrolled in after-school care. Neither site has morning care programs. Staff reports that with a school closure, this program would likely expand/relocate at the receiving school(s). • Michelson Elementary houses a county preschool program on its campus. Because of the residences of the students in that program, staff reports that it could be relocated to another school district. 6. School facilities inventory and facilities data • School District Map • Site Maps (fire drill maps) with current room usages listed at each classroom and other rooms. Include the total number of portable and permanent classrooms. List the number of currently vacant/unused classrooms, if any. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 49 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED • Inventory of School Facilities, which shows site acreages, year built, number of classrooms, capacity (Appendix A-4, which was used in the Special Board Workshop as well). • At VUSD, the two elementary schools are older, both built in 1974. Avery Middle was constructed in 1993. All three schools have excess capacity, the amount depending on the class size used (this report uses 24:1 for TK-3, 30:1 for 4-5 and 34:1 6-8, as reported by District.). Changing the class size will change the amount of excess capacity and the ability of receiving schools to bring in students from a closed school and tables should be adjusted accordingly. • Table of site acreage compared to California Department of Education Guidelines -- Discussion of and presentation of site size issues (Appendix A-14). This document uses the School Site Analysis and Development, Edition 2000, California Department of Education. This document is available on the CDE website (http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/guideschoolsite.asp). This table should be populated with actual acreage of the three sites to compare their acreages with CDE guidelines. The CDE guidelines show that at capacity, using all their classrooms, the CDE guideline acreage: At capacity: Hazel Fischer 7.1 acres for capacity of 366 students (1 K) Michelson 7.3 acres for 366 students (2 K) Avery Middle 12.9 acres for 612 students Using their actual enrollment (Oct. 2016), not capacity, the CDE guide- line acreage is: Hazel Fischer 4.2 acres for 163 K-5 students Albert Michelson 4.4 acres for 230 K-5 students Avery Middle 7.1 acres for 206 6-8 students Note: Add 1-2 acres for track at Avery Middle. • Table of Core Facilities -- Discussion of and presentation of core facilities at each school and estimated need for additional core facilities, including multipurpose/lunch space, kitchen, restrooms, parking and traffic, play fields. Core facilities analysis includes review of CDE guidelines, building codes that apply (review with architect knowledgeable with facilities condition in the district), and review with child nutrition director on kitchen equipment and multipurpose room size issues. Facilities information also includes age of school, age of unmodernized portables. The Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) provides core facilities guidelines, which provide the amount of square footage needed per school and divides that between classrooms and non-classroom (or core) facilities. An architect or other consultant can be used to compile and assess this information. At Vallecito Union, both elementary schools have larger kitchens, with most food preparation being done at the central kitchen at Michelson Elementary. Closing Michelson would cause the need to either renovate/ Vallecito Union School DiStrict 50 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED re-equip Hazel Fischer Elementary’s kitchen or do a significant amount of renovation/enlarging of the kitchen at Avery Middle School. Vallecito’s kitchen facilities vary across the schools. Most food preparation is done at Michelson Elementary, which has a large central kitchen and walk-in cooler. Avery Middle School, the newest in the district, has core facilities for seventh and eighth graders that the other two schools do not have, including a gymnasium and multipurpose room, outdoor athletic field space. This school also does not have facilities for primary elementary school students. Both elementary schools are older and were built for K-8. However, educational standards have changed considerably since they are built, and many of the seventh-eighth grade/middle school original facilities would need to have major upgrades to provide 21st century educational programming for the middle school students. These are just some examples of facilities issues that need to be docu- mented and discussed as pros and cons of each closure scenario presented at the next meeting. The facilities information presented in this report represents a partial analysis. Vallecito Union staff should provide addi- tional facilities information as needed. 7. Transportation costs and implications of school closure • The transportation director should present information on transportation impact, including route changes, costs, waiting and driving times for each closure scenario. • Typically, if a district provides bus transportation, the closure scenario comparisons can be straightforward. For example, if a school closes and causes additional routes and drivers, or longer drive times, this school would typically be lower on the ranking for possible closure. • In addition, a school geographically farther out on the periphery of a district, or at a longer distance to the other schools, may be ranked higher for closure. • Staff presents information on neighborhood density, including percentage of students living within one mile and percentage of students attending each school who also live in the attendance area. These factors provide a sense of which schools are neighborhood schools, and the amount of disruption for the students who both attend and reside in that attendance area. Because the district is rural and provides bus transportation to general education and special education students, this is not a priority issue at Vallecito. The committee may decide not to include these in the final criteria used for ranking. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 51 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED Meetings #3-4: Sample documents are included in appendices listed below. During these meetings, staff/facilitator should continue presenting any background information and other data that has not been covered in previous meetings. The agenda for each of meeting #3 and #4 should be divide to fit into the recommended 1 ½- to two-hour hour meeting time. As the meeting agendas go into the data analysis, it is important to note that most of the data and spreadsheets are dependent upon one another. It is crucial to remember to update all spread- sheets if certain data points are updated in one spreadsheet. For example, the closure scenarios lead to the one-time facilities costs for each scenario, which then gets included into the cost savings analysis (one-time facilities costs are deducted from the savings to obtain the final gross savings). 1. School facilities committee members should be asked to approve the philo- sophical goal statements (Appendix 13) presented in the previous meeting. Committee members should agree on the priority order of these statements, delete statements they do not wish to consider, and add other statements if needed. 2. Present draft criteria matrix (no data populated for each school yet) (Appendix A-15). The facilitator should explain that this will be filled in using the criteria and factors from the philosophical goal statements and from the background data that has been presented thus far. 3. Present closure scenarios (Appendix A-16 through A-19). The facilities needs listed on each closure scenario include both classrooms and core facilities. FCMAT discussed five possible scenarios for Vallecito Union. The first one is to maintain the status quo, with no school closure. Because the committee’s role is to rank the schools for possible closure, this scenario is not part of the discussion (the board decides this). The other four scenarios are (in no order except alphabetical by last name of school): • Close Hazel Fischer, Michelson becomes a K-3 or other configuration and Avery Middle becomes a 4-8 or other • Close Michelson, Hazel Fischer becomes a K-3 and Avery Middle becomes a 4-8 • Close both elementary schools and Avery Middle becomes a K-8 • Close Avery Middle School and both elementary schools become K-8 4. Present one-time facilities costs (Appendix A-2). This is a spreadsheet analyzing the one-time facilities costs. This spreadsheet uses the closure scenario options that are discussed later in this report. There are three schools, and there would be two different facilities scenarios depending on which of the other schools closed. One example would need to be fully populated with data y. One-time facilities costs include adding or relocating classroom Vallecito Union School DiStrict 52 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED or other buildings to the remaining open sites, and modernizing/renovating/ updating existing vacant or unused classrooms, and reconfiguring classrooms and other buildings for new uses (such as a regular classroom to a computer lab). 5. Present cost-savings analysis (Appendix A-1) While some school facilities committee members may ask for the data on the draft criteria matrix to be filled in, it is important to discuss all of this background information first and not go straight to the ranking. As some of the information is only for background, the staff/facilitator may wish to present the rubric and also a second sheet called the background matrix that includes data the school facilities committee eventually decides is important, but is not used in the quantitative rankings. In later meetings, the committee eventually decides on the criteria. The criteria not approved move to the background matrix and are not factored in the ranking. Closure scenarios are presented that include the number of students who would attend the receiving schools and the classroom capacity at each school to hold these additional students. This analysis should be performed for each school that is considered for closure. The business manager/staff should make a presentation and answer any committee member questions related to estimated cost savings of each school to be closed and be prepared to answer questions on these costs. Costs included are typically staffing costs of site administrator(s), clerical, custodial, support staff, cafeteria, library staff, plus utilities, among other things. During the cost savings analysis presentation, the maintenance director should provide information on the condition of the facilities and level of maintenance required at each school. Higher maintenance costs include older schools that have not been modernized and older portable classrooms. This information will be added to the matrix. The maintenance director should provide information on costs anticipated to maintain a closed, unused school facility and site. This is an ongoing cost that should be deducted from the estimated cost savings. Make sure to also discuss the one-time costs that will occur, including any facilities/portables relocation, renovation or construction, moving expenses and cost to secure the site.. These one-time costs would be deducted from the gross cost savings for the first year. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 53 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED Meetings #5-6 as needed: (Sample documents are included in Appendix A-9.) Meetings #5 and #6 (as needed) are mostly for the staff/facilitator to present the completed criteria ranking matrix (Appendix A-15), using the criteria considered important by the school facilities committee in Meeting #3. Committee members can review the ranking and discuss. A weighted ranking method with forced-ranking procedures may also be used, but this is not recommended for a small school district such as Vallecito Union. If a weighted ranking method is used, the next step would be for the school facilities committee to decide the weight of each factor. For example, while test scores may be deemed important, test scores are relatively high at all district schools, so this may be seen as less of an issue than facility capacity or condition. Therefore, the facility capacity rank for each school may be weighted more heavily than test scores. This weighting can be done qualitatively, but a quantitative weighting will provide more objective and data-driven decisions. This can be a difficult step for the committee because individuals will often calculate where their individual school stands in the rankings and try to influence the outcome. The facilitators may wish to take votes on the importance of each factor. Numerous weighting and ranking methodologies can be used, including a forced-choice method in which each factor is voted on against each other factor. Because of the details in this method, it is not included with this report, but FCMAT can provide a how-to guide. Alternative Points-Based Ranking method The district may wish to complete a formal ranking such as what is included in the sample docu- ments. Another option is to have a points-based method, with schools ranking as one through five for more or less impact on each matrix factor. This is more subjective since committee members may disagree with each other and staff on what it means to be “somewhat” affected, etc. However, this can be an effective and less formal approach. A sample worksheet of a points-based method is included as Appendix A-20. Future Meetings Additional meetings can be held if there is continuing discussion and need for more information to meet the goal of developing a recommendation from the school facilities committee to provide to the board. Recommendations The district should: 1. Follow the school closure process through multiple meetings of the school facilities committee. 2. Compile data and background information for the committee to use in ranking the schools for possible closure. 3. Assign the school facilities committee to do the following: • Agree on philosophical goal statements, which provide the criteria to be included in a ranking. Vallecito Union School DiStrict 54 SCHOOL FACILITIES MEETINGS AND DATA NEEDED • Analyze the school closure scenarios for facilities outcomes. The other four scenarios are (in no order except alphabetical by last name of school): • Close Hazel Fischer, Michelson becomes a K-3 or other configuration and Avery Middle becomes a 4-8 or other • Close Michelson, Hazel Fischer becomes a K-3 and Avery Middle becomes a 4-8 • Close both elementary schools and Avery Middle becomes a K-8 • Close Avery Middle School and both elementary schools become K-8 • Analyze the cost savings analysis and one-time facilities, relocation, maintenance and security costs to help determine the fiscal impact of a school closure. • Use the criteria matrix, adding, changing and deleting criteria that the committee wishes to use, which come from philosophical goal statements. School Facilities Committee Recommendation to the Board The recommendation to the board from the school facilities committee should include the ranking of the three schools, and can include the wording, The school facilities committee will not recommend the closure of a school, but will provide a rank order of the schools for consideration if the board decides on closure. The rank ordering is based on the criteria and factors that the committee agreed were important factors to consider. Rank Order for Possible School Closure School Facilities Committee Recommendation Date (_____) School Rank Hazel Fischer Elementary Michelson Elementary Avery Middle The school facilities committee may wish to make a presentation to the board at a regular meeting. The presentation should include the recommended ranking. Members of the committee may also wish to provide an overview of the process and timeline. After hearing this recommendation, the board should develop a timeline for future public hear- ings, community meetings and board meetings to gather public input and provide information to the community and parents. After this opportunity to hear public input, the board should take action on the closure at a regular board meeting. A sample board resolution is attached as Appendix A-21. Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 55 APPENDICES Appendices A: Sample Memos, Tables and Charts – Preliminary Data A-1 – Cost Savings Analysis Sample Table (partially populated for VUSD) A-2 – One-Time Facilities Cost Preliminary Analysis (should be updated and verified) A-3 -- California Public School Closures 2003-04 – 2012-13 for use at Special Board Workshop and Meeting #1 of School Facilities Committee A-4 – Inventory of Current Facilities 2016-17 A -5 – Sample staff memo for board meeting to propose School Facilities Committee A-6 – Sample Invitation letter from superintendent seeking parents/community members for committee A-7 – School Facilities Committee and Process Information Sheet A-8 – Sample staff memo for Committee Overview, Roles and Responsibilities and Timeline (SFC Meeting #1 packet) A-9 – Ground Rules for School Facilities Committee (SFC Meeting #1 Packet) A-10 – Public Distribution of Information, Posting of Agendas and Public Conduct of Committee (SFC Meeting #1 Agenda Packet) A-11 – Sample Staff memo on Cost-Savings Measures Taken by District (for SFC Meeting #1 or #2 depending on available time) A-12 – Sample Agenda for SFC Meeting #2 (use for all meetings as a template) A-13 – Philosophical Goal Statements (Meeting #2) A-14 – School Site Acreage Analysis A-15 – Draft Criteria Matrix (blank). At following meeting, Criteria Matrix is filled in and rankings are obtained. A-16 – Closure Scenario #1 Hazel Fischer ES Closure A-17 – Closure Scenario #2 Albert Michelson ES Closure A-18 – Closure Scenario #3 Hazel Fischer AND Albert Michelson Closures A-19 – Closure Scenario #4 Avery Middle School Closure A-20 – Alternative Points-Based Ranking Method A-21– Sample Board Resolution for School Closure B: Study Agreement Vallecito Union School DiStrict 56 APPENDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 57 APPENDICES Appendix A-1 VALLECITO UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT DRAFT ESTIMATE OF OPERATIONAL SCHOOL CLOSURE SAVINGS (COSTS) BASED ON 2015/16 ACTUAL AND 2016/17 BUDGET This is the estimate of annual operational costs saved if the school closes. Staffing cost savings based on 2016/17 budget; other costs based on 15/16 actual expenditures. Areas highlighted in yellow are preliminary or need to be populated with data. Some costs will not be eliminated, such as alarm monitoring, partial utilities, insurance, mowing, some maintenance. At the bottom are estimated one-time costs for closure, including packing, moving. natural gas, propane, telephone, cable and all other utilities need to be added in to Utilities. There may be other costs that are unknown at this time, but these are typical cost savings. Prepared: October 2016 Hazel Fischer ES FTE (1) Michelson ES FTE Avery Middle FTE Salary and Benefits Principal (2) $112,743.00 0.700 $133,931.00 1.000 $133,612.00 1.000 Clerical $65,495.00 1.125 $63,062.00 1.219 $65,181.00 1.344 Food Service(3) $0.00 0.563 $0.00 1.750 $0.00 1.063 Library $48,304.00 0.875 $47,608.00 0.875 $47,608.00 0.875 Computer/Technology Instructor/Aide $43,363.00 1.000 $53,780.00 1.000 $0.00 0.000 Instructional Aides/Noon Duty(4) $27,689.50 0.290 $50,649.00 1.811 $30,040.00 0.804 Health/Spec. Circ. Aide (4) $9,856.00 0.359 $91,840.00 2.547 $62,388.00 1.844 Special Education staffing possible reduction here Crossing Guard $0.00 0 $3,575.00 0.156 $0.00 0 Custodian $87,546.00 1.5 $87,546.00 1.50 $117,626.00 2.0 (Includes Lead and Nighttime) 50% Utilities $20,493.00 $18,315.00 $17,104.50 Includes sewer, water, electrical (5) (water, electrical) (sewer, water, electrical) (water and electrical) Should add natural gas and propone here also) Snow Removal at HFE $7,000.00 $0.00 $0.00 (only school contracted out) Internet/Broadband/Data Projected at ______/mo/site Instructional Software Licenses $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 ( if per student, $0.00 savings; if per site, insert costs) Reduce 90% telephones Cable TV Alarm System Monitoring $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Continue service, no savings. Office Supplies $720.00 $1,140.00 $970.00 Reduce 50% Maint/Operational Gen'l Liability Insurance $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 Annual Premium (6) No savings, insurance continues. TOTAL GROSS SAVINGS $423,209.50 $551,446.00 $474,529.50 Vallecito Union School DiStrict Macintosh HD:Users:leonelmartinez:Desktop:Copy of FCMAT VALLECITO APPENDIX A-1 COSTS AND SAVINGS (1).xlsx 11/17/16 School Site Solutions, Inc. 58 APPENDICES ESTIMATE OF OPERATIONAL SCHOOL CLOSURE SAVINGS (COSTS) Page Two 9/1/16 (Update using CBEDS) TOTAL ENROLLMENT 162 231 200 GROSS SAVINGS PER STUDENT $2,612 $2,387 $2,373 SQUARE FOOTAGE 30,000 38,000 43,000 GROSS SAVINGS PER SQUARE FOOT $14.11 $14.51 $11.04 One-Time Estimated Costs Facilities Construction (see separate spreadsheet on facilities estimated costs) or Renovation/replacement Use available Capital Outlay Funds Minimal $200,000.00 $2,000,000 Packing/Moving (estimated) $5,000.00 $6,500.00 $5,000.00 (obtain quote from moving company) Other -- Contingency $2,000.00 $2,000.00 $2,000.00 Total Estimated One-Time Costs $7,000.00 $208,500.00 $2,007,000.00 Total Net Cost Savings $416,209.50 $342,946.00 -$1,532,470.50 Gross Savings Less One-Time Operational Costs Notes: (1) FTE = Full Time Equivalent (2) Hazel Fischer Principal is also Superintendent; assume 1 principal and 1 principal (0.7 FTE)/Superintendent (0.3 FTE) remain (3) Food Service staffing would relocate to receiving schools. No reduction in staffing (4) Instructional Aides/Noon Duty and Health Aides would be reduced by 1/2. (5) Other utilities such as garbage, natural gas, propane, telephone should be added to amounts above. (6) General Liability Insurance: District is part of a countywide Joint Powers Authority for insurance. If a portion of that premium could be reduced due to a site closure, that should be included in this analysis. Typically, a district owning a school site still needs to have general liability insurance coverage, so very little, if any, insurance premium would be saved. If the site is used for other uses, the insurance may remain at the same amount. Prepared by: FCMAT, October, 2016 Macintosh HD:Users:leonelmartinez:Desktop:Copy of FCMAT VALLECITO APPENDIX A-1 COSTS AND SAVINGS (1).xlsx Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM School Site Solut 1 io 1 n /1 s, 7 I / n 1 c 6 . 59 APPENDICES Vallecito Union School DiStrict 2-A XIDNEPPA TCIRTSID LOOHCS NOINU OTICELLAV ERUSOLC LOOHCS ROF STSOC SEITILICAF EMIT-ENO DETAMITSE _____# GNITEEM -- EETTIMMOC SEITILICAF LOOHCS 6102 .tcO ,TAMCF yb deraperP noslehciM dna EFH 3# oiranecS SE noslehciM treblA 2# oiranecS erusolC elddiM yrevA 4# oiranecS erusolC erusolC erusolC EFH 1# oiranecS gnitsixe fo noitarugifnoceR wen ro ,elbissop fi smoorssalc eb dluow smoorssalc lanoitidda oN rehtie ta dedeen yticapac moorssalc lanoitidda oN rof aera etarapes dna smoorssalc yrevA ro EFH rehtie ta dedeen ta smoorssalc rof stsoc seitilicaf oN .noslehciM ro EFH .smoorssalc yramirp dna K-KT .elddiM .elddiM yrevA ro noslehciM rehtie dluohs smoortser sa hcus seitilicaf eroC :seitilicaF eroC :seitilicaF eroC .ycauqeda rof deifirev eb ot noisrevnoc rof etauqedani aera seitilicaf eroC .noslehciM dna EFH htob ta sloohcs 8-K detadpu smoortser ,smyg ,sdleif ,sbal ytlaiceps lanoitiddA fo noitavoner/noisnapxe elbissoP fo noitavoner/noisnapxe elbissoP .seitilicaf eroc lla no yfireV .dedeen eb dluow .EFH ta nehctik .EFH ta nehctik ta nehctik fo noisnapxe rojaM yrevA ta nehctik fo noisnapxe rojaM .elddiM yrevA .elddiM sa hcus seitilicaf eroc rehtO sa hcus seitilicaf eroc rehtO yrevA dna EFH htob ta smoortser eb dluohs EFH ta smoortser rof deifirev eb dluohs elddiM .ycauqeda rof deifirev .ycauqeda wen deen dluow elddiM yrevA yramirp rof seitilicaf eroc etarapes K-KT gnidulcni ,stneduts elbissop ,smoortser ,dnuorgyalp -pord dna pu-kcip/gnikrap etarapes .aera ffo dna EFH htob ta edargpu seitilicaf eroc rojaM fs/054$-004$ ta noisnapxe nehctiK .noslehciM :gnitadpu/noisnapxe nehctiK .tnempiuqe lanoitidda sulp :stsoC rallod noillim-itlum otni nur ylekil tsom dluow sihT fo tnetxe no gnidneped ,tcejorp ,edoc htlaeh tnerruc rof gnitadpU .noisnapxe/noitavoner pu - 000,002$ ytefas erif ,gniroolf gnidulcni .smoorssalc rof 00.0$ no gnidneped ,seitilicaf eroc weN .pu dna noillim 1$ eb dluoc ,tnetxe pu - 000,002$ .devorpmi seitilicaf eroc fi nwonknU 60 APPENDICES AppeAnpdpiexn dAix-3 A-4 California K-12 Public School Closures 2003/04 - 2012/13** School Type/Year 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 Total Elementary 1 14 50 63 49 37 34 20 268 Intermediate/Middle 8 17 14 17 10 8 5 79 High School 2 2 2 9 2 14 8 39 Elem/HS Combo 2 2 4 Other* 1 1 14 22 36 75 47 31 83 310 Total 1 0 2 38 91 115 150 98 89 116 700 * "Other" includes Community Day School, Continuation High, County Community, Juvenile Court School, Opportunity School, Special Education School **2013/14 data has only been partially compiled by CDE. 66 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 61 APPENDICES Vallecito Union School DiStrict 4-A xidneppA tcirtsiD loohcS noinU oticellaV 71/6102 seitilicaF tnerruC fo yrotnevnI atad etelpmoc htiw detalupop eb ot sdeen dna tfard a si siht STCEJORP NOITAZINREDOM TNENAM S R G E N P I D - T L L IU IU B B RAEY EGATOOF .QS O S /W EL Y B T A I T C R A O PA P C ) . 1 D ( E Y T .N IC EG AP 7 A 1 C /6 1 R 0 C 2 )SD E .D B E C ( .N T E N G E M 71 L /6 L 1 O 02 RNE EB S ' D R L C D U E R O S E C U H T T A O HT .P S D ( E R D ) E S E H E E T S N U O , D S' E RC .T S R M O O P O F R O S L .O C N .M SM RE O P O F R O S L .O C N T Y N ? T E K I C R C A A O J P D T A EGAERCA SSERDDA SLOOHCS ,stinu CAVH potfoor gnidulcni -- 3002 elbatrop ;siht no sliated ni tup -- 4791 000,03 682 663 261 0 3 3 11 32259 AC ,dlonrA ,.dR negalB 5061 5-K SE REHCSIF LEZAH moorssalc ,gnithgil mooR PM .9891 -- smoorssalc stnemevorpmi 3002 000,83 062 663 022 0 2 4 01 ,syhpruM ,.dR hcluG ainavlysnneP 691 5-K NOSLEHCIM TREBLA setad rehto yna fi sliated tresni -- 4791 74259 AC dna gniroolf ,srotcejorp ,krowesac -- 3002 3991 000,34 216 216 681 0 0 0 81 8-6 ELDDIM YREVA )ereh sliated tresni( teprac 42259 AC yrevA ,daoR naroM 5454 000111 8511 4431 865 5-3 5 7 93 0 LATOT %51 %58 SEITILICAF TROPPUS TNEDUTS 0 0 0 0 0 0 N evoba ees ECIFFO TCIRTSID 0 REHTO/ECNANETNIAM 000,111 8511 4431 865 LATOT :setoN .noslehciM dna EFH htob ta 5-4 rof smoorssalc 5 dna 3-KT rof smoorssalc 9 desU .8-6 1:43 dna 5-4 1:03 ,3-K 1:42 no desab si yticapaC )1( .egarots dna smargorp laiceps dna de laiceps rof desu smoorssalc edulcni ton seod dna ,eciffo ,smyg ,seirarbil sa hcus seitilicaf eroc moorssalc-non edulcni ton seod yticapaC )2( .tnacav emoceb smoorssalc sa ecaps rieht desaercni evah smargorp emos sa ,yticapac esaercni dna egasu moorssalC ot kcab detrevnoc eb dluoc ecaps "rehto" eht fo emoS DSUV :ecruoS tnemtrapeD seitilicaF DSUV :ecruoS slx.)2()1( SLOOHCS FO YROTNEVNI 4-A XIDNEPPA OTICELLAV TAMCF:pmeT kooltuO:smetIyraropmeT:sehcaC:yrarbiL:zenitramlenoel:sresU:DH hsotnicaM MA 25:0161/81/11 62 A PPENDICES Appendix A-5 Sample Staff Memo for Board Meeting to Propose School Facilities Committee Memorandum Date: To: Board of Education From: Superintendent The district is investigating options for budget cuts that will be necessary to achieve a balanced budget by June 30, _____. Staff proposes that because all options should be reviewed, the board should consider adopting a school closure study process. Typically a district may consider school closures because of declining funding, which may occur for several reasons. Our district is a deficit spending at a rate that is projected to deplete current reserves within three years. Many school districts explore the school closure option to provide budget savings even if declining enrollment is not a significant factor. School closures are emotional and cause major disruption to students, staff, families and the community, so it is important for the board to make decisions based on a fair and open process. Therefore, staff/administration proposes a committee process to provide a rank order of schools for possible closure if the Governing Board decides to close a school or schools. State law does not include requirements for how a district may decide whether or not to close a school. However, the California Department of Education provides the Closing a School Best Practices Guide, which includes a recommendation for a community-based committee. This committee would review the various factors that would typically be a part of the decision and would provide a recommended ranking of schools to the Governing Board. Staff/administration propose the establishment of a School Closure Committee comprised of a wide range of individuals including parents, teachers, school staff, principals and community members. The committee would begin meeting on ________________ and would be charged with providing a recommendation to the board on a rank ordering of schools to be closed if the decision to close one or more schools is made. This SFC would not be recommending whether or not to close schools as a budget savings measure, but would only be providing a recommended ranked order if the board decides that school closure is necessary. Staff proposes the following committee composition: • One parent from each school selected by each school principal or PTA, approved by principal • One classified staff member from each school (selected by classified bargaining unit and approved by Superintendent) • One teacher from each school (selected by teachers’ association and approved by Superintendent) 67 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 63 APPENDICES • Principals of Michelson Elementary and Avery Middle Schools. (NOTE: Because the Superintendent is currently also the Principal of Hazel Fischer Elementary School, it is not recommended that the Superintendent/Principal be a member of the committee, but it is recommended that he attend all committee meetings as staff • Business Manager of the District • Educational Program/Curriculum Director or Assistant Superintendent • Two to three community members from the business, civic, and government communities. These could include Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, staff from Calaveras County planning or economic development department. Representatives from any of these constituencies should be selected by the membership. The committee will be co-facilitated by Business Manager and Educational Services Director _________________. The committee will not be Brown Act meetings like Board Of Education meetings, but will follow many of the same guidelines: that all meetings are open public meetings, the meeting agenda and minutes are approved formally and meeting agendas, minutes and documents will be available to the public in written and digital format on the District’s website in advance of receiving public input at each meeting. The committee will meet on the following dates, times and location: All meetings will start at ___ p.m Location _______________ (could be at a school library or Multi-Purpose Room or Gym Address Days, Dates Here of Scheduled Meetings The committee’s goal is to have a recommended rank ordering of schools for the Board of Education meeting in late spring, 2017. Staff recommends approval. Thank you. 68 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 64 APPENDICES Appendix A-6 Sample Invitation letter from superintendent seeking parents/community members for committee (Adapt as needed for specific organizations - use VUSD letterhead) (Date) Dear ________________: On __________, the Vallecito Union School District Board of Education, at its regular meeting, voted to approve the formation of a School Facilities Committee. This committee will be comprised of a wide range of individuals including parents, teachers, school staff, principals and community members. The committee will meet starting in January, 2017 and is charged with providing a recommendation to the board on a rank ordering of schools to be closed if the decision to close one or more elementary schools is made. This letter is a request for interested parent volunteers from your school. We are sending this letter to the school principal, who should distribute it to your PTO/PTA as well as let all parents know about this through telephone, posting and any other means deemed necessary by the principal. All names for possible committee membership must be submitted through the school principal to the __________ Department, to (email address of responsible staff person) or by telephone at (telephone number), no later than day, date, time. Final notifications will be made on (day, date). Names sent directly to the _______________ Department will be rejected. If you are interested, please submit your name to your school principal. Please include your name, email address, mailing address and telephone number where we can reach you during the day. We would ask that your parent representative be chosen in one of two ways: either the principal of the school may choose a representative, or if a school submits multiple names, the _________ Department will hold a lottery and choose a random name. This will take place on __________________.. The board approved the following committee composition: • One parent from each school selected by each school principal or PTA, approved by principal • One classified staff member from each school (selected by classified bargaining unit and approved by Superintendent) • One teacher from each school (selected by teachers’ association and approved by Superintendent) • Principals of Michelson Elementary and Avery Middle Schools. (NOTE: Because the Superintendent is currently also the Principal of Hazel Fischer Elementary School, it is 69 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 65 APPENDICES not recommended that the Superintendent/Principal be a member of the committee, but it is recommended that he attend all committee meetings as staff • Business Manager of the District • Educational Program/Curriculum Director or Assistant Superintendent • Two to three community members from the business, civic, and government communities. These could include Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, staff from Calaveras County planning or economic development department. Representatives from any of these constituencies should be selected by the membership. The committee will be co-facilitated by Business Manager and ________, Director of Education Services, of the Vallecito Union School District. A chairperson of the committee will be voted on by committee members during the second meeting. The committee will not be governed by the Brown Act, as are Board of Education meetings, but will follow many of the same guidelines. These guidelines include: all meetings are open public meetings, the meeting agenda and minutes are approved formally and the meeting agendas, minutes and documents will be made available to the public and committee in advance of the meeting in both paper, email and District website format. The committee will meet on the following dates and times. All meetings will be held starting at ____ p.m. Your parent volunteer from your school should be able to attend all of the following meetings (or select an alternate): All meetings to start at _____ p.m. Tentative location is the ______________ (School Library or Multipurpose Room or Gym) (Address) (Day, date of each meeting) The committee is scheduled to have a recommended rank ordering of schools for the Governing Board meeting to be held on (day, date, and time). The Board of Education has recognized that the District’s financial situation presents challenges. Cost-cutting measures have already been done and now the District is considering a school closure to help further save costs. We look forward to working with you on this important issue. Sincerely, Superintendent 70 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 66 APPENDICES Appendix A-7 School Facilities Committee and Process Information Sheet (Place on Vallecito Union SD letterhead, public on District website and provide information to local media) (Date) On _____________, the Vallecito Union School District Board of Education, at its regular meeting, voted to approve the formation of a School Facilities Committee (SFC). This committee will be comprised of a wide range of individuals including parents, teachers, school staff, principals and community members. The committee will meet starting on ____________ and is charged with providing a recommendation to the board on a rank ordering of schools to be closed if the decision to close one or more elementary schools is made. This SFC will not be recommending whether or not to close schools as a means to provide budget savings, but will only be providing a recommended ranked order if the board decides school closure is necessary. The SFC will also not be charged with consideration of other methods of providing budget savings, but will hear and be able to discuss cost-saving measures that the District has already accomplished and why the District is now considering school closure. The board approved the following committee composition: • One parent from each school selected by each school principal or PTA, approved by principal • One classified staff member from each school (selected by classified bargaining unit and approved by Superintendent) • One teacher from each school (selected by teachers’ association and approved by Superintendent) • Principals of Michelson Elementary and Avery Middle Schools. (NOTE: Because the Superintendent is currently also the Principal of Hazel Fischer Elementary School, it is not recommended that the Superintendent/Principal be a member of the committee, but it is recommended that he attend all committee meetings as staff • Business Manager of the District • Educational Program/Curriculum Director or Assistant Superintendent • Two to three community members from the business, civic, and government communities. These could include Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, staff from Calaveras County planning or economic development department. Representatives from any of these constituencies should be selected by the membership. The Committee will be co-facilitated by Business Manager ___________ and Educational Services Director ______________ from the Vallecito Union School District. All meetings will be open public meetings, the meeting agenda and minutes will be approved formally, and the meeting agendas, minutes and documents will be made available to the public in advance of each meeting in paper format and on the District’s website. The committee will meet on the following dates, times and location. 71 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 67 APPENDICES All meetings will start at ____ p.m. ______________ School Gymnasium (Address) Date ___________ – Meeting #1 (Following dates of scheduled meetings) The committee is scheduled to have a recommended rank ordering of schools for the Board of Education meeting to be held on ____________________________. Please contact ___________ at (email address) or call at (telephone number) if you have questions. Thank you. 72 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 68 APPENDICES Appendix A-8 Sample staff memo on Committee Overview, Roles and Responsibilities and Timeline (for VUSD School Facilities Committee Meeting #1 packet) LETTERHEAD MEMORANDUM DATE: _________________________ TO: School Facilities Committee FROM: ____________________, Business Manager RE: School Facilities Committee Overview and Timeline The Governing Board of the Vallecito Union School District, at its regular meeting on __________, approved the formation of a School Facilities Committee. The SFC was approved as a Superintendent-appointed committee, with the Board approving the general categories and number of members. The Board directed that the committee’s purpose is to provide a recommendation to the Board on a rank ordering of schools to be closed if the decision to close one or more schools is made. The Committee has not been asked by the Board to make a recommendation on whether or not to close schools. The Board also agreed that SFC meetings will not be operated under the requirements of the Brown Act but will follow many of the same rules for public meeting actions, public input and public distribution of information. In accordance with this, all meetings are to be posted and open to the public, meeting agendas are to be posted prior to the meeting (we will attempt to post and distribute agenda packets and information a week prior to a meeting), all actions and decisions of the committee are to be made in the public view at the meetings, and there is to be an opportunity for public comment at each meeting. The meeting agendas will be posted on the District’s website at www.____________ and will be posted at all schools and sites. Because of the need for timely decisions in response to anticipated budget cuts from the State, Superintendent _________ has directed that this Committee complete its work and provide a ranking recommendation to the Board at the _______________ regular Governing Board meeting. Meetings of the SFC are scheduled as follows. All meetings are currently scheduled to be held at the __________________, with location subject to change. All meetings will start at ________. Future Meetings: Meeting #2 __________________________ Meeting #3 __________________________ Meeting #4 __________________________ Meeting #5 __________________________ AND FUTURE MEETINGS: TBD 73 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 69 APPENDICES The Superintendent and Board asked that a recommendation from the SFC be submitted to the Board at its regular meeting on _____________. It is up to the Board whether they vote to adopt the recommendation at that meeting or at a later meeting, or they may decide to take it as information and not vote on it. An information sheet that has been developed by the District is included for your use and reference. The California Department of Education has produced a document on school closure best practices, which is available on their website at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/schoolclose.asp. The document has been attached for your use and reference. It should be noted that this document as prepared with the assistance of Vacaville Unified School District staff. If you would like copies of any information referenced here, or have questions or need additional information, please contact _____________________, Vallecito Union School District (telephone ________________, email ___________________). 74 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 70 APPENDICES Appendix A-9 School Facilities Committee Meeting #1, Date _______________ MEMORANDUM DATE: ______________________ TO: School Facilities Committee FROM: RE: Agenda Item #____: Ground Rules for Committee General standards of conduct for advisory and decision-making bodies require that this Committee act in accordance with those standards. The standards will help the Committee do the work that it is committed to doing, in a timely and professional manner. The Committee has been formed in order to comply with the following guidelines set out by the California Legislature, in California Education Code Section 17387, which states: "It is the intent of the Legislature to have the community involved before decisions are made about school closure or the use of surplus space, thus avoiding community conflict and assuring building use that is compatible with the community’s needs and desires." with concurrence by this Committee, the following ground rules will be applied: 1) We will work together in good faith to achieve the goals of the Committee as provided by the Board of Education and California Education Code. 2) We will use respectful listening and will discourage the use of interrupting. 3) We will be fully "present" at the meeting by becoming familiar with the materials before we arrive and by being attentive to the discussion and activities at the meeting. This also means putting away the electronic devices, unless for emergencies. 4) We will invite and welcome contributions of every Committee member. 5) We will operate in a collegial and friendly atmosphere. 6) We will value consensus as a group, but recognize that formal majority votes may need to be taken in order to come to decisions. 75 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 71 APPENDICES Appendix A-10 School Facilities Committee Meeting #1 Date: ___________ MEMORANDUM DATE: _____________ TO: School Facilities Committee FROM: RE: Agenda Item #___: Public Distribution of Information, Posting of Agendas and Minutes and Public Conduct of the Committee The Board of Education has authorized the appointment of this Committee by the Superintendent. The Board did not direct this Committee to operate under the Brown Act, like a school board, but we intend to follow many of the open meeting and public distribution rules in order to provide a high level of transparency and clarity. With the intent of public and open process, we will be following the standards below: 1) Business of the Committee will be conducted in public at meetings. Committee members may confer with each other and with staff outside of meetings if they so choose, but any decisions and votes will be taken at committee meetings only. 2) Minutes of each meeting will be transcribed and provided in the agenda packet of the next meeting. At this point, we do not foresee audio- or video-taping meetings. 3) We intend to conduct meetings in a similar manner to school board meetings, with opportunities for public comment on items both on and off the agenda. Because there is a significant amount of work that will be occurring for the Committee, we encourage members of the public to go to the Board of Education with items NOT on the agenda at regular school board meetings, rather than with this Committee as a first resort. Because this Committee is not a Brown Act Committee, it is not obligated to respond to any public comments either on or off the agenda. 4) All information provided to the Committee are public documents, under California law, and as such, may be copied, and will be provided to the public when they are also received by Committee members. Information to the public will be provided on the District's website, and will be emailed to the schools. Hard copies will be available at the District Office public counter and will be available at schools. This information includes agendas, meeting minutes and data and documents provided to the Committee. 5) We intend to provide information prior to meetings with sufficient lead time for review of documents. Typically, we will distribute agenda packets and post agenda information a week ahead of each meeting. This exceeds the Brown Act rule of 72-hour prior notice. 76 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 72 APPENDICES 6) Requests for additional information or questions from Committee members to staff or administration will be followed up on, and responses provided to all Committee members. 77 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 73 APPENDICES Appendix A-11 School Facilities Committee Meeting #1 or #2 Date:___________________ MEMORANDUM DATE: TO: School Facilities Committee FROM: RE: Agenda Item #____: District Budget Information We have been discussing the issue of financial solvency as one of the reasons why the District is considering school closure. The Board of Education over the past year has heard the information and has approved taking steps toward fiscal stability. Specific cost-savings steps taken include: • Here put in the cost-saving measures already accomplished Planned for 2016/17: • Here put in the additional cost-savings measures planned for 16/17 or beyond 78 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 74 APPENDICES Appendix A-12 Sample School Facilities Committee Agenda for Meeting #2 Meeting #2 Date and Time AGENDA Location Address 1. ESTABLISH QUORUM AND CALL TO ORDER 2. INTRODUCTIONS 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion by ________________ Second by ___________________ That the agenda be approved as presented/amended. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES-- MEETING #1 Motion by ________________ Second by ___________________ 5. COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA (3-Minute Time Limit Per Individual) Persons wishing to speak to items not on the agenda are asked to complete a "Request to Speak" card and present it to the Chairperson prior to the meeting. Subjects not on the agenda may be introduced at this time, but no action may be taken on them at the meeting. Please stand and state your name for the record. COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA (3-Minute Time Limit Per Individual) Persons wishing to speak to items on the agenda are asked to complete a "Request to Speak" card and present it to the Chairperson prior to the meeting. You will be given an opportunity to speak on the subject at the time the items is discussed by the Committee. When you address the Committee, please stand and state your name for the record. 6. BUDGET INFORMATION/ENROLLMENT RECAP Staff and SSS will provide information on the district budget and historical and projected enrollment, including corrected special education spreadsheet and additional information regarding birthrates and student generation factors from different geographical areas in the District. 7. HISTORY OF THE DISTRICT -- BACKGROUND INFORMATION Staff will provide an overview of the history of the District. 8. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS OF THE DISTRICT 79 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 75 APPENDICES SSS/Staff will provide an overview of educational programs offered at the District and site locations. 9. PROPOSED PROCESS Staff/SSS will provide information for discussion on process for ranking schools for possible closure. 10. INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHICAL GOAL STATEMENTS AND CRITERIA TO BE USED IN RANKING SCHOOLS Staff will present the philosophical goal statements, which will be used to help select the criteria for ranking the schools for possible closure. At the next meeting, the Committee will be asked to come to agreement on the goal statements, which they believe should be considered to rank schools for possible closure. No action needed. Information only. 11. DRAFT CRITERIA MATRIX Staff will provide a draft criteria matrix and criteria definitions that may be used to help rank schools for possible closure and how that may translate into the decision-making process. 12. SCHOOL FACILITIES INVENTORY/DISTRICT AND SCHOOL MAPS/SITE PLANS Staff will provide information on school facilities in the District, for use by the Committee. 13. SCHOOL CLOSURE SCENARIOS Staff will present for discussion and comment various closure scenarios for each school. Committee members are asked to review and be prepared to discuss. 14. COMMITTEE MEMBER DISCUSSION 15. STAFF REPORTS 16. FUTURE BUSINESS Next regular SFC meeting: Date and Time ________________________ Location: __________________________ 17. ADJOURNMENT: Time: ____________________- 80 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 76 APPENDICES Appendix A-13 Sample staff memo for SFC Meeting Agenda Packet to explain and define Philosophical Goal statements School Facilities Committee Meeting #____ Date: __________________ MEMORANDUM DATE: TO: School Facilities Committee FROM: RE: Agenda Item #___: FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: Draft Philosophical Goal Statements for the School Closure Analysis Process One systematic way of helping to decide on an order of schools for closure is to evaluate each school on the basis of an established set of criteria developed by the District and appropriate stakeholder groups to assess each school’s feasibility and impacts if it were to be closed. By ranking these criteria according to philosophical/policy goals or objectives of the District, the SFC can “score” each school in a meaningful manner and arrive at a justifiable basis for the school closure decision. In order to decide on the factors used and how to rank them, the SFC should first come to an agreement on the goals that we want to strive toward when making the rank ordering decisions. Below is a goal statement and the factors or data that we would be looking at in order to rank the schools. Please keep in mind that these are draft statements and can be changed, added to or subtracted from. Also, please keep in mind that the ranking will be made up of a synthesis of all factors, not any one factor alone. It is very important to realize that as much as we can quantify the factors, there are many implications and effects of each closure scenario. One change will cause ripple effects of other changes and there are many “if, then, but then this…” types of situations that the committee members will be asked to evaluate. We are introducing this at Meeting #____ and will further discuss as an action item at Meeting #____. After there is agreement on these philosophy/goal statements, we can include them quantitatively on a matrix. 81 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM Fiscal Impacts: 1. Criteria: Operating Costs 77 APPENDICES Background Goal Statement Quantitative Information Needed Measures to Evaluate to Obtain the Measures 1.Non-teaching 1. One-time facilities Consider the operational costs of each school personnel costs per costs* (ties to on a per-student basis and on a per-square- student or other unit Statement #2 below, foot basis. 2. Utilities costs per Item #5). student 2. One-time other costs 3. Other operating costs such as moving* per student *These are needed to determine gross estimated cost savings of school closure. ALTERNATIVE: Save the maximum amount of general funds possible by closing the school with the highest operating costs per student, including personnel, maintenance and utilities. 82 Vallecito Union School DiStrict Fiscal and Facility Impacts: 1. Criteria: Space/Capacity 78 AP PENDICES Background Information Needed to Goal Statement Quantitative Obtain the Measures Measures to Evaluate Ability of the 1. Classroom capacity (at projected Provide adequate amount of adjacent receiving future student: teacher ratio) classroom space for all students by schools to house 2. Number of Classrooms Needed to closing the school whose adjacent incoming students House Incoming Students schools have adequate classroom in current existing 3. Number of Portable Classrooms that space to house the incoming students. classrooms would have to be added to house students in Receiving Schools and Site Conditions 4. Cost of Adding Facilities (one-time) Provide adequate acreage for all Ability of the Site acreage students by closing the school that has adjacent receiving Site Capacity Based on Acreage adjacent schools with adequate schools’ acreage to acreage to hold the incoming accommodate students. incoming students Provide adequate core facilities for Core Facility* Capacity students by closing the school that has Ability of the adjacent schools with adequate core adjacent receiving facilities to hold the incoming schools’ core students. facilities to *Core Facilities consist of the non- accommodate classroom spaces needed for the incoming students educational program and operations of the school including: library, multi- purpose room, cafeteria, gymnasium, kitchen, school administration. 83 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM Facilities Impacts: 1. Criteria: C ondition APPENDICES 79 Background Goal Statement Quantitative Measures to Evaluate Information Needed to Obtain the Measures 1) Year school was built or 1) Number of Provide adequate facilities for all modernized permanent classrooms students by closing the school 2) Percentage of permanent and 2) Number of whose adjacent schools are portable classrooms portable classrooms adequate in condition. 3) Number of leased portable and ownership classrooms 3) Maintenance 4) Number of portable costs and funding classrooms over 20 years of age or not modernized 5) Past State facility funding restrictions 6) Implications of possible future State facility funding 84 Vallecito Union School DiStrict Facilities and Educational Impacts: 80 1. CriteriaA: PP PrEoNgDraICmEsS Background Goal Statement Quantitative Measures to Evaluate Information Needed to Obtain the Measures Provide education and services for Ability of schools to provide 1. Number and category Special Education (Special Day services to Special Education of affected SDC Class) students in an appropriate students from closed schools Students per school environment with adequate 2. Classroom capacity facilities in receiving schools. of all schools, not just adjacent schools 3. Analysis and explanation from Special Education Director/Department 85 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM Enrollment Impacts: 81 1. Criteria: Enrollment APPENDICES Background Information Goal Statement Quantitative Measures to Needed to Obtain the Measures Evaluate Projected Enrollment, 1. Historical, Current and Cause the least amount of Districtwide and by School Projected Enrollment disruption possible by closing the school with the lowest enrollment. 2. Ethnicity 3. Socio-Economic factors 86 Vallecito Union School DiStrict Educational Program Impacts: 82 1. Criteria: Educactional Performance APPENDICES Background Information Goal Statement Quantitative Measures to Needed to Obtain the Measures Evaluate 1. 2015/16 ______ Test Trend information from Provide students with education in Score Results in English Curriculum Department because higher-performing schools by Language Arts and Math of changes in testing closing the school with the lowest 2. Information on Test requirements and how to academic performance. Score Change Trends (over compare over time various tests) 87 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM Educational Program Impacts: (also Facilities Impacts) 1. Criteria: Educational Program Services 83 APPENDICES Background Information Goal Statement Quantitative Measures to Needed to Obtain the Measures Evaluate 1. Ability of schools to 1. Classroom capacity of Provide students with the provide other services to adjacent schools education and services that they students from closed 2. Program information on all currently have as much as possible schools programs, including, but not by closing the school that has 2. Special program limited to: Title I, other adjacent or other schools that can funding transferability to programs provide those services and receiving schools programs for the receiving students. 88 Vallecito Union School DiStrict Transportation and Safety Impacts: 84 1. CriteriAaP: SPpEeNcDiIaCl EESducation and Transportation Background Information Goal Statement Quantitative Measures to Needed to Obtain the Measures Evaluate Provide education and services for Ability of schools to 1. Number and category of Special Education students in a provide services to students affected SDC Students per school manner that provides classroom from closed schools dispersal balanced with 2. Transportation analysis and transportation costs and types and route information from numbers of classes needed Operations 89 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM Transportation and Safety Impacts: 1. Criteria: T ransportation and Proximity -- neighborhood schools APPENDICES 85 Background Information Goal Statement Quantitative Measures to Needed to Obtain the Measures Evaluate Keep students as relatively close as 1. Number of students 1. Intradistrict transfers possible to their neighborhood. living within one mile of 2. Interdistrict transfers school 3. Open enrollment 2. Percentage of students 4. Title I parent choice transfers living within one mile of school 3. Percentage of students who live within attendance area 4. Average distance travelled to school per student 90 Vallecito Union School DiStrict Transportation and Safety Impacts: 86 1. CriteriaA: PS PaEfeNtDyI aCnEdS Barriers Background Information Goal Statement Quantitative Measures to Needed to Obtain the Measures Evaluate Keep students from crossing Number of major roads District and Road Maps major physical barriers as much and freeways that students as possible. from closed school would need to cross to reach receiving schools 91 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 87 APPENDICES Vallecito Union School DiStrict 41-A xidneppA tcirtsiD loohcS noinU oticellaV noitacudE fo tnemtrapeD ainrofilaC rep senilediuG egaercA etiS loohcS dna egaercA lautcA _________________ :etaD -- _____# gniteeM eettimmoC seitilicaF loohcS TCIRTSID ENILEDIUG LAUTCA LATOT 8-7 5-4 3-K ECNEREFFID EGAERCA EGAERCA ENILEDIUG EDC YTICAPAC s'RC ENILEDIUG EDC yticapaC s'RC ENILEDIUG EDC yticapaC s'RC EDARG/LOOHCS EGAERCA EGAERCA EGAERCA 1.7- 1.7 0 0 0 6.3 051 5 5.3 612 9 REHCSIF LEZAH 3.7- 3.7 0 0 0 6.3 051 5 7.3 612 9 NOSLEHCIM TREBLA 9.21- 9.21 9.21 216 81 0 0 0 0 0 0 ELDDIM YREVA noitidE 0002 ,sisylanA etiS loohcS ,noitacudE fo .tpeD ainrofilaC :ecruoS 6102 .tcO ,TAMCF dna DSUV 88 APPENDICES Appendix A-15 DRAFT CRITERIA MATRIX VALLECITO UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT SCHOOL FACILITIES COMMITTEE Meeting # ____ Date: Agenda Item #_____ Criteria/School HAZEL FISCHER ES Macintosh HD:Users:leonelmartinez:Desktop:Vallecito USD:FCMAT VALLECITO APPENDIX A-15 DRAF S T c C ho R o IT l S E i R te IA S M ol A ut T i1o R1n I/s X1, .8 x I/n l1s c6x . Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM LEZAH SE REHCSIF KNAR ALBERT MICHELSON ES TREBLA NOSLEHCIM KNAR SE NOTE: LOWEST TOTAL NUMBER IS HIGHEST RANK FOR CLOSURE CONSIDERATION. Please note that the Committee in deciding on the important philosophical goal statements, can decide to leave any of these criteria blank, leaving them out of the analysis. AVERY MIDDLE Enrollment/Demographic Information Current Enrollment (Gen. and Spec. Ed.) (October, 2016) Interdistrict Transfers (Coming into School) Interdistrict Transfers In (% of Enrollment) Interdistrict Transfers (Going Out) Interdistrict Transfers Out (% of Enrollment (transfers and enrolled) % of Enrollment that Lives in Attendance Area One-Year Enrollment Projection One-Year % Enrollment Projection Change % of Students Receiving Free/Reduced Lunch % of High Risk Students (Socio-Economic Subgroup) Number of Special Education (SDC) Students Transportation/Distance Information Average distance traveled to School per student # of Students Living within One Mile of School (road mile) % of students Living within One Mile of School (road mile) Number of Bus Riders (Higher of AM or PM, date) % Bus Riders to Total Enrollment Number of Major Roads/Freeways that Significant Number of Students Would Have to Walk Across Distance to Nearest School (Road Miles) Fiscal Information for Closures Cost Savings of Non-Teaching Personnel Cost Savings of Non-Teaching Personnel per Student (Current Enroll.) Cost Savings of Utilities Cost Savings of Utilities per Student All Other Operating Cost Savings All Other Operating Cost Savings per Student Net Total Operating Costs Savings Total Operating Cost Savings per Student One-time cost to add facilities/renovate facilities at receiving schools Educational Information Ability of receiving or adjacent schools to provide programs and services, including special education Special Program Funding Ability to Transfer to Receiving Schools Academic Test Scores Percent Gain 2014 to 2015 Academic Test Scores Core Facility Capacity Year Built or Modernized Area in Acres Classroom Capacity (24:1 and 30:1) School Utilization % (enrollment compared to CR capacity) Maximum number of unhoused students at receiving schools Actual Acreage compared to CDE Guideline Acreage Site Capacity Based on Acreage Enrollment vs Acreage Capacity -- Enroll/Site Acreage Capacity (%) Classroom Capacity vs. Acreage Capacity Core Facility Capacity Percentage Adequate Core Facilities to Capacity Percentage Adequate Core Facilities to Current Enrollment Number of Portable CR's/%Portable CR's (Perm Ports counted as Perm at WR) Number of Leased (non-owned) portable classrooms % of Portable CR's over 20 years old and Not Modernized Major Maintenance Costs Modernization Needs (Conceptual Cost Estimate in 2017 Dollars) One-Time Facilities Cost Community Use of Fields and Facilities TOTAL RANK 89 APPENDICES Vallecito Union School DiStrict 61-A XIDNEPPA TCIRTSID LOOHCS NOINU OTICELLAV ---- # GNITEEM -- EETTIMMOC SEITILICAF LOOHCS ERUSOLC REHCSIF LEZAH :1# OIRANECS ERUSOLC .DETRESNI EB DLUOHS TNEMLLORNE DETCEJORP .TNEMLLORNE SDEBC 6102 .TCO TNERRUC GNISU ELPMAXE/ETALPMET A SI SIHT :ETON ESAELP SE noslehciM ot )smoorssalc 4 ni stneduts 701( tnemllorne 3-KT detcejorp etacoleR :OIRANECS loohcS elddiM yrevA ot )smoorssalc 2 ni stneduts 55( stneduts 6-4 etacoleR SE noslehciM ot ssalC yaD dednetxE 1 etacoleR DETCEJORP DESUOHNU TNEMLLORNE 81/7102 DE .NEG REVO(/STNEDUTS ERUSOLC MORF( LANOITIDDA DETCEJORP MOORSSALC STNEMMOC YTILICAF EROC STNEMMOC ETIS )YTICAPAC )OIRANECS STNEDUTS TNEMLLORNE )2( YTICAPAC SLOOHCS DETCAPMI ni yticapac etauqeda si erehT -- etauqeda eb yam seitilicaf eroC smoorssalc desunu dna tnacav ,eciffo tnorf ,ecivres doof yfirev smoorssalc l'dda 4 eht rof .sdleif ,smoortser .dedeen 92- 733 701 032 663 3-K NOSLEHCIM TREBLA ni yticapac etauqeda si erehT smoorssalc desunu dna tnacav rof etauqeda era seitilicaf eroC smoorssalc l'dda 2 eht rof .stneduts 55 lanoitidda eht .dedeen 153- 162 55 602 216 8-4 ELDDIM YREVA :SETON .DEDEEN ERA SMOORSSALC LANOITIDDA ,EVITISOP SI REBMUN EHT FI .YTICAPAC SUNIM TNEMLLORNE GNITLUSER = STNEDUTS DESUOHNU )1( .STNEDUTS LANOITIDDA EHT ESUOH OT YTICAPAC ETAUQEDA SAH LOOHCS EHT ,EVITAGEN SI REBMUN EHT FI .YLETARAPES DEZYLANA NOITACUDE LAICEPS .YLNO TNEMLLORNE LARENEG ERA TNEMLLORNE DNA YTICAPAC )2( .8-6 1:43 dna 5-4 1:03 ;3-K 1:42 FO DRADNATS EZIS SSALC EMUSSA )3( 90 APPENDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 71-A XIDNEPPA TCIRTSID LOOHCS NOINU OTICELLAV ---- # GNITEEM -- EETTIMMOC SEITILICAF LOOHCS ERUSOLC LOOHCS YRATNEMELE NOSLEHCIM :2# OIRANECS ERUSOLC .DETRESNI EB DLUOHS TNEMLLORNE DETCEJORP .TNEMLLORNE SDEBC 6102 .TCO TNERRUC GNISU ELPMAXE/ETALPMET A SI SIHT :ETON ESAELP SE rehcsiF lezaH ot )smoorssalc 5 ni stneduts 451( tnemllorne 3-KT detcejorp etacoleR :OIRANECS loohcS elddiM yrevA ot )smoorssalc 3 ni stneduts 66( stneduts 6-4 etacoleR .SE noslehciM ot rehcsiF lezaH morf stneduts yad dednetxE etacoleR DETCEJORP DESUOHNU TNEMLLORNE 81/7102 DE .NEG REVO(/STNEDUTS ERUSOLC MORF( LANOITIDDA DETCEJORP MOORSSALC STNEMMOC YTILICAF EROC STNEMMOC ETIS )YTICAPAC )OIRANECS STNEDUTS TNEMLLORNE )2( YTICAPAC SLOOHCS DETCAPMI eb dluow nehctik noitaraperP .erusolc noslehciM htiw dedeen ni yticapac etauqeda si erehT -- seitilicaf eroc rehto kcehC smoorssalc desunu dna tnacav .sdleif ,eciffo tnorf ,smoortser .stneduts l'dda 451 eht rof 94- 713 451 361 663 3-K SE REHCSIF LEZAH ni yticapac etauqeda si erehT smoorssalc desunu dna tnacav smoorssalc l'dda 3-2 eht rof .dedeen nehctik noitaraperP .dedeen 043- 272 66 602 216 8-4 ELDDIM YREVA :SETON .DEDEEN ERA SMOORSSALC LANOITIDDA ,EVITISOP SI REBMUN EHT FI .YTICAPAC SUNIM TNEMLLORNE GNITLUSER = STNEDUTS DESUOHNU )1( .STNEDUTS LANOITIDDA EHT ESUOH OT YTICAPAC ETAUQEDA SAH LOOHCS EHT ,EVITAGEN SI REBMUN EHT FI .YLETARAPES DEZYLANA NOITACUDE LAICEPS .YLNO TNEMLLORNE LARENEG ERA TNEMLLORNE DNA YTICAPAC )2( .8-6 1:43 dna 5-4 1:03 ;3-K 1:42 FO DRADNATS EZIS SSALC EMUSSA )3( 91 APPENDICES Vallecito Union School DiStrict 81-A XIDNEPPA TCIRTSID LOOHCS NOINU OTICELLAV ---- # GNITEEM -- EETTIMMOC SEITILICAF LOOHCS ERUSOLC LOOHCS YRATNEMELE NOSLEHCIM DNA REHCSIF LEZAH :3# OIRANECS ERUSOLC .loohcS elddiM yrevA ot stneduts 5-KT 393 detcejorp etacoleR :OIRANECS .elddiM yrevA ot noslehciM dna rehcsiF lezaH morf stneduts yad dednetxE etacoleR DETCEJORP DESUOHNU TNEMLLORNE 81/7102 DE .NEG REVO(/STNEDUTS ERUSOLC MORF( LANOITIDDA DETCEJORP MOORSSALC STNEMMOC YTILICAF EROC STNEMMOC ETIS )YTICAPAC )OIRANECS STNEDUTS TNEMLLORNE )2( YTICAPAC SLOOHCS DETCAPMI ledomer nehctiK noitaraperP K/KT weN .deriuqer eb dluow gnidulcni -- dedeen aera tnerap K ,smoortser ,smoorssalc K ,aera pu-kcip/ffo-pord eroc rehtO .dedeen dnuorgyalp ,yticapacrevo eb dluoc seitilicaf ,sdleif ,moor PM ,myg gnidulcni dluow smoorssalc K dna KT weN .seciffo dna yrarbil ,smoortser .dedeen eb 31- 995 393 602 216 8-K ELDDIM YREVA :SETON .DEDEEN ERA SMOORSSALC LANOITIDDA ,EVITISOP SI REBMUN EHT FI .YTICAPAC SUNIM TNEMLLORNE GNITLUSER = STNEDUTS DESUOHNU )1( .STNEDUTS LANOITIDDA EHT ESUOH OT YTICAPAC ETAUQEDA SAH LOOHCS EHT ,EVITAGEN SI REBMUN EHT FI .YLETARAPES DEZYLANA NOITACUDE LAICEPS .YLNO TNEMLLORNE LARENEG ERA TNEMLLORNE DNA YTICAPAC )2( .8-6 1:43 dna 5-4 1:03 ;3-K 1:42 FO DRADNATS EZIS SSALC EMUSSA )3( 92 APPENDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 91-A XIDNEPPA TCIRTSID LOOHCS NOINU OTICELLAV ---- # GNITEEM -- EETTIMMOC SEITILICAF LOOHCS ERUSOLC ELDDIM YREVA :4# OIRANECS ERUSOLC .DETRESNI EB DLUOHS TNEMLLORNE DETCEJORP .TNEMLLORNE SDEBC 6102 .TCO TNERRUC GNISU ELPMAXE/ETALPMET A SI SIHT :ETON ESAELP .ylneve ediviD .)8-K( noslehciM dna )8-K( rehcsiF lezaH ot elddiM yrevA morf stneduts 8-6 681 detcejorp etacoleR :OIRANECS DETCEJORP DESUOHNU TNEMLLORNE 81/7102 DE .NEG REVO(/STNEDUTS ERUSOLC MORF( LANOITIDDA DETCEJORP MOORSSALC STNEMMOC YTILICAF EROC STNEMMOC ETIS )YTICAPAC )OIRANECS STNEDUTS TNEMLLORNE )2( YTICAPAC ,myg on -- seitilicaf eroc etauqedanI moorssalc etauqeda si erehT bal ecneics ,ecaps dleif etauqedani rehto dna ,smoortser ,ecaps l'dda 39 eht rof yticapac .secaps ytlaiceps .stneduts 011- 652 39 361 663 8-K REHCSIF LEZAH ni yticapac etauqeda si erehT ,myg -- seitilicaf eroc etauqedanI bal ecneics ,ecaps dleif etauqedani smoorssalc desunu dna tnacav .secaps ytlaiceps rehto dna ecaps .stneduts l'dda 39 eht rof 34- 323 39 032 663 8-K NOSLEHCIM TREBLA :SETON .DEDEEN ERA SMOORSSALC LANOITIDDA ,EVITISOP SI REBMUN EHT FI .YTICAPAC SUNIM TNEMLLORNE GNITLUSER = STNEDUTS DESUOHNU )1( .STNEDUTS LANOITIDDA EHT ESUOH OT YTICAPAC ETAUQEDA SAH LOOHCS EHT ,EVITAGEN SI REBMUN EHT FI .YLETARAPES DEZYLANA NOITACUDE LAICEPS .YLNO TNEMLLORNE LARENEG ERA TNEMLLORNE DNA YTICAPAC )2( .8-6 1:43 dna 5-4 1:03 ;3-K 1:42 FO DRADNATS EZIS SSALC EMUSSA )3( 93 APPENDICES Appendix A-20 Alternative Points-Based System for Facilities Evaluation of School Site and Buildings The purpose of this form is to identify criteria to be considered in evaluating school sites and buildings relative to school closure. These factors include: age, condition, and adequacy of buildings, as well as adequacy of the site and topography. School: POINTS AWARDED CRITERIA (Max = 5 pts for each category) Age Condition Last Modernized Space Ongoing Maintenance Needs Site Total Points (Max = 30) AGE OF BUILDING(S) • 0 to 10 years = 5 points • 11 to 20 years = 4 points • 21 to 30 years = 3 points • 31 to 40 years = 2 points • 41 to 50 years = 1 points • 50+ years = 0 points CONDITION OF SCHOOL BUILDING(S) YES ----- SOMEWHAT ----- NO 5 4 3 2 1 Are the buildings in good repair (including roofs, painting, floor, etc.)? Are the buildings modern and up-to-date? Are the buildings Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant? Do the buildings provide a safe and healthful environment? Are the building and electrical lighting systems energy efficient? 92 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 94 AP PENDICES SPACE AND FUNCTIONALITY YES ----- SOMEWHAT ----- NO 5 4 3 2 1 Is there adequate classroom space to accommodate various educational activities? Does the building permit flexibility and expansion? Is a high percentage of the enclosed space available for educational functions? Do the building scale and space relationships contribute to a functional, attractive school? Are various sizes of instructional space provided? Is adequate space available for library, cafeteria, multipurpose space, additional portables, etc.? ONGOING MAINTENANCE NEEDS YES ----- SOMEWHAT ----- NO 5 4 3 2 1 The building’s age and physical condition does not significantly increase its upkeep requirements. Are the exteriors and interiors of the buildings made of materials that require little or no maintenance? Are roofing, plumbing fixtures and hardware made of durable and long-life materials? Is the building constructed in such a way as to discourage vandalism? Is the playground equipment durable and functional, with a long life expectancy? Are the mechanical equipment, lighting fixtures, and stationary cabinets in good condition? Are the low-voltage and computer network systems modernized? Are the HVAC systems in good condition? Is the building energy efficient? SITE ADEQUACY YES ----- SOMEWHAT ----- NO 5 4 3 2 1 Is the site size and shape adequate for present and future buildings, play fields, and landscaping areas? Are the grounds easy to maintain? 93 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 95 APPENDICES Evaluation of Educational Factors The purpose of this form is to evaluate educational factors relative to specific school closure scenarios. These factors include: curriculum, program benefits, and other educational considerations. Based on Scenario #: _______________________ School Considered for Closure: _______________________ Receiving Schools: _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ Yes Somewhat No As a result of this school closure scenario: 2 pts 1 pts 0 Staff utilization is optimized High-risk students will receive support services and interventions at the receiving schools Special education programs can be absorbed or duplicated at receiving schools English language learners will be appropriately placed given their language needs Students will be relocated to a school performing at the same level or higher TOTALS: Total educational evaluation points for this scenario: ________ (Other evaluation sheets would be developed that include the other factors that the committee wishes to explore in this points-based method.] 94 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 96 APPENDICES Vallecito Union School District School Closure Scores School Enrollm Facility Facility Grade Level Geographic Academic Special Transportation Financial Charter ent Conditio Capacity Configuration Equity Performance Program Score Impact School Score n Score Score Score Score Score Impact Score Impact Score Score H Fischer A Michelson Avery Middle 95 Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 97 APPENDICES Appendix A-21 – Sample Board Resolution on School Closures BOARD OF EDUCATION VALLECITO UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT Board Resolution on School Closures RESOLUTION NO. XX-xxxx _______________, 20____ Whereas the Vallecito Union School District (VUSD) must address a structural deficit (spending in excess of revenue) and has adopted a multi-year budget that includes the closures of one or more school; and Whereas on (insert date) the VUSD Board approved the formation of a School Facilities Committee, and approved the process and the timeline for the closure of one or more schools s; and Whereas the District has held ____ public meetings to follow the process for school closures and involve the community in the process; and Whereas District staff have used public input and expert review in formulating a recommendation for school closures for 20___-___; and Therefore be it resolved that the VUSD board adopts a closure plan: Schools/Facilities Closed for 20__-___: (List school(s) here) PASSED AND ADOPTED this ____ day of _______, 2010, at a special meeting of the Board of Education by the following votes: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was duly and regularly introduced, passed and adopted by the members of the Governing Board of the Vallecito Union School District at the public meeting of said board held on ______________________. __________________________ XXXX Secretary, Board of Education 96 Vallecito Union School DiStrict 98 APPENDICES Appendix B – Study Agreement Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 99 APPENDICES Vallecito Union School DiStrict 100 APPENDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM 101 APPENDICES Vallecito Union School DiStrict 102 APPENDICES Fiscal crisis & ManageMent assistance teaM