OCT. 30, 2020
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T he C oast News
SMUSD faces growing budget deficit ahead of new leadership By Tigist Layne
SAN MARCOS — As school board elections near and the San Marcos Unified School District (SMUSD) has begun transitioning elementary and middle school students back to in-person learning, the district’s budget deficit is projected to steadily increase over the next few years. In its most recent budget, approved in July, the district projected a roughly 12% budget deficit in fiscal year 2020-21, which is more than $29,000,000. The budget also assumes the district’s projected cuts will be at $14 million for this fiscal
year. By FY 2022-23, SMUSD is expected to face a deficit of about 16%, with anticipated cuts at about $4.5 million. SMUSD’s fiscal future has been shakier since the start of the COVID-19 crisis; however the district has been facing structural deficits since before the outbreak began. The school district, which serves about 21,000 students in North County, narrowly avoided anticipated deficits for their 2018-19 school year, but has showed a steady downward slide since then.
In fact, the district has been projecting a budget deficit since the 2017-2018 adopted budget. Declining enrollment, increased cost of special education and the increased contributions to pensions are all factors that school officials point to as reasons for deficits like these. Unlike other North County school districts including Oceanside and Escondido Union, however, San Marcos saw a steady increase in enrollment before COVID-19. After the start of the COVID-19 crisis, school districts across North County,
including SMUSD, have seen a decrease in enrollment and are all feeling the financial impact. According to state law, if a district remains in a deficit for too long, it may lose the authority to govern itself, and be placed under control of the State Superintendent of Education. To avoid this, SMUSD has had to make steep cuts and, in recent years, the district has even had to dip into its reserves. “Like many other school districts in California, San Marcos Unified will be facing a very challenging financial period
over the next several years. The state revenues that the district depends on are down due to the pandemic and this means no COLA (cost of living adjustment) and possible revenue reductions for the next two years,” said Vincent Christakos, SMUSD’s consulting chief business officer. Christakos added that the district will provide the first Interim Financial report in December, which will include actual revenues and expenses through Oct. 30, 2020, and will be updating the budget for the rest of the 2020-21 fiscal year as well as the multi-
year projections for the next two years. Last month, the district’s superintendent, Dr. Carmen García, abruptly resigned amid increased tensions with the board and the district’s families. The district also has three board seats up for election next week. The new board will be responsible for appointing a new superintendent. The SMUSD community has widely expressed how hopeful they are that new leadership and new representatives will also mean a more stable fiscal future for the district.
MiraCosta premieres socially distant video play By City News Service
OCEANSIDE — The MiraCosta College Theatre Department premiered “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” this week, a free and socially distant video play running through Nov. 8. There will be no stage. Actors won't even be sharing the same set. The audience will be watching from their living rooms. “We decided when we were placed under the stay-at-home order that,
We want children to see that theatre is possible in their own home.” Tracy Williams Director, “Miraculous
even though we were going to be physically distanced, we would remain active and we were going to continue to move forward no matter what,” said Tracy Williams, the play’s director. “We feel that we have been so incredibly blessed by our community, we wanted to give something back; We wanted to pay it forward by providing this gift in return.” Students filmed their scenes individually at home on Zoom using backdrops, set pieces, props and costumes prepared by theatre department students, faculty and professional staff. Theatre department technician Bryon Andersen removed borders from the recorded Zoom boxes before “connecting” the actors, crafting a particular scene to make it appear as though several people are on stage at a time. Whenever a scene in the story grew too large, the crew used shadow puppets to illustrate the action.
“The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” is set in the 1930s and tells the story of a china rabbit given to a young girl named Abilene, who treats him as a member of the family until he falls into the sea and onto the ocean floor while Abilene and her family are vacationing aboard the Queen Mary. Freed from the seabed by a fierce storm, Edward is pulled up by a passing fisherman using a net, the first of several stops with different owners over the next several years of various adventures. Eventually, Edward is reunited with Abilene, who is now married and has a daughter of her own. “When I first read the book last spring, I couldn’t see how this was going to work or how it was going to look at the end,” said film major Beverly Balderrama, who plays the role of the traveler. “It seemed hard to visualize how this was going to work on Zoom. But it’s taking what has been a meeting platform and using it in another way to bring art into our lives.” With pandemic protocols restricting joint rehearsals, props, costumes, and scenery were distributed to the five actors, who live from Temecula to San Diego. With each of the main characters interacting with the Edward Tulane china rabbit, scenic artist Zach Elliott was tasked with crafting five identical dolls. Williams would spend up to five hours on the road driving production material to student actors unable to pick up their costumes, microphones, lighting, and more from the Oceanside Campus Theatre loading dock. “We want children to see that theatre is possible in their own home,” she said. “It also speaks to the heart of who we are as a theatre program and how we think of our students and our community.” Tickets for the show can be found at https:// w w w. s h o w t i x4 u . c o m / event-details/40243.
CARLSBAD PARENT Haley DiDonato speaks during a second protest on Oct. 13 calling for the Carlsbad Unified School District to reopen. The board will allow middle and high school students to return on Nov. 30. Photo by Steve Puterski
Carlsbad, Vista school reopenings not without tension By Steve Puterski
REGION — Battle lines have been drawn over when and how two local school districts will reopen. Carlsbad Unified and Vista Unified school districts plan to return, or have already returned, to in-person classes after gaining approval from each board during their meetings on Oct. 14 and 15, respectively. Both meetings showcased heated exchanges between teachers, classified unions, board members and residents over how to return as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. CUSD middle and high school students will return to class on Nov. 30, overruling a previous decision to hold all middle and school classes virtually until January 2021. VUSD began classes on Oct. 20. Also, CUSD Trustee Kathy Rallings, who is employed with the California Teachers Association, has negotiated on behalf of the Vista Teachers Association about reopening plans, according to Scott Davison, who is a member of the
group Families for Opening Carlsbad Schools, and several Vista parents and teachers. “No. In fact, standing up for students, educators and parents are shared community interests,” Rallings said, in response to accusations of a conflict of interest. “We must practice consistency and follow through with agreements and decisions previously reached. “Teachers must be able to trust their leaders to prioritize a safe and healthy return to school and avoid inconsistent or incoherent policies that undermine that trust.” The unions have been vocal in their displeasure with returning to in-person sessions, saying the environment is not safe, social distancing efforts are lacking and exposing staff to potential infection of the novel coronavirus. The VUSD meeting was so contentious, the Vista Teachers Association held a meeting and approved a vote of no confidence against Superintendent
Matt Doyle and trustees Rosemary Smithfield and Cipriano Vargas. According to several sources, the vote failed. Regardless, VTA leaders said the 6-foot distancing cannot be met for students, thus jeopardizing a teacher’s healthy and safety. Smithfield said the district’s plans have been in place for at least two months and the union knew Oct. 20 was the target date to return, should county and state officials allow schools to reopen, which they have. She added the district has given teachers masks, face shields and plexiglass if they want it and the district requires teachers to maintain a 6-foot distance at all times. “I’d say it was a small group of teachers that are not happy,” Smithfield said. “We don’t need to drag students into it. We gave parents a choice and we’ve done everything possible we can.” However, Davison and the group said Rallings is trying to actively sabotage
reopening. He said Rallings may be in violation of the board’s own conflict of interest provision in its bylaws and question whether she has the student’s best interests in mind. Davison and others also question whether Rallings has other individuals’ safety in mind, pointing to comments she’s made over the past several months regarding having remote teachers with campus monitors in the classroom. She chided Trustee Ray Pearson during the Oct. 14 meeting after he posted on Facebook his position stating he was for reopening schools. Rallings said it could be a violation of the board’s governance, although Davison said Rallings posts political positions, such as being a supporter of Prop. 15, on one of her two Facebook accounts. Keri Avila, the VTA president, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Lindsey Gordon, president of the Carlsbad Unified Teachers Association, declined to comment.