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DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.
Pelosi, other Democrats visit Kyiv as war rages on Tribune Content Agency
Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic File (2021)
Students at Suisun Elementary School in Suisun City look for their parents after classes are finished in August 2021.
Fairfield-Suisun board hears report on high cost to reduce class sizes Susan Hiland
SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — Trustees in the Fairfield-Suisun School District last week were walked through the costs of reducing class sizes across all grade levels and were hit with a harsh reality. The district has about $50 million a year that's not already committed to staff costs, according to district staff. The cost to cut class sizes comes with a cost of more than $52 million just in staff costs and another $331 million to $445 million in one-time costs for new facilities. And those are just baseline costs that do not include such costs as utilities and maintenance. California Education Code Sections 41376 and 41378 in 1964 prescribe the maximum class sizes and penalties for districts with any classes that exceed the limits. The penalty for exceeding the limit is a loss in all baseline funding
for each student over the limit. The district meets these requirements each year with the current district class size average of 21 to 1 in transitional kindergarten through COREY third grade; 26 to 1 in grades fourth through eighth grades (includes both elementary and secondary); and 24 to 1 in ninth through 12th grades. "At this time we are at the level we need to be to meet these requirements," Superintendent Kris Corey said Thursday. The state created a Class Size Reduction plan that was implemented from 1996-97 through 2012-13. This provided additional funding, a hard cap of 20.4 for a single class of students in kindergarten through third grade and a financial penalty for exceeding this
hard cap for that class. "At the time some thought it would be better to have more students in the class and take the financial hit," Corey said. School district staff members used a formula to assemble a budget with teacher-to-student ratios of 15 to 1. The formula is broken down by grade levels. The district ratio for kindergarten through third grade is 24 to 1. For fourth through eighth grades, it is 32 to 1 (this includes staffing for K-8 schools). For secondary grades, sixth through 12th, the limit is 170 contacts per day, divided by five periods, to give an average of 34 to 1 if a full 170 contacts. The penalty for not meeting this average cost for implementation in the 2021-22 school year is $6.5 million. The district has received $5.1 million in the current school year from the state. The See Class, Page A7
Tips on how to conserve water during state’s persistent drought Tribune Content Agency According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, drought can put the economy, environment and people’s health and safety at risk. People can start implementing water conservation methods into their daily lives by following these tips from water and drought experts:
Check your current water usage The California Department of Water Resources recommends that residents calculate how much water they are using at home using the U.S. Geological Survey calculator. They said this serves as a starting point to indicate where you can save water. Ryan Bailey, water use efficiency branch manager at the DWR, said
Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic File (2016)
A pair of ducks make their way toward the water on the dried up lake bed at Lagoon Valley Park in Vacaville in 2016. you can check with your local suppliers to see if they offer landscape water use assessments. “Residents should check their water bill to identify their water supplier or reach out to the local municipal government for an official list of water suppliers in their area,” the DWR said.
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Be mindful of water usage at home According to the USGS, each person uses, on average, about 80 to 100 gallons of water per day in their homes. This includes water usage from flushing toilets and taking showers and baths.
To reduce the use of water at home, Lund, with UC Davis, said it would be helpful to take shorter showers. You should also turn off faucets when you’re not using them and only run dishwashers when they are full, said Doug Parker, director of the California Institute for Water Resources at the University of California. Previous methods that Sacramento County Water Agency customers implemented that helped reduce water usage by up to 34% in 2013 to 2016 include having a watering schedule, installing drought-tolerant landscaping and fixing leaking faucets. If you have decorative water features outside your home, the DWR advises that you reduce or eliminate their use to prevent water loss from
WEATHER 75 | 51 Sunny day, clear night. Five-day forecast on B8.
See Water, Page A7
LVIV, Ukraine — Denouncing Russia’s “diabolic invasion” of its smaller neighbor, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, both officials said Sunday, as fierce new fighting flared in the country’s east. In a 10th week of warfare, Russia said Sunday it struck 800 targets overnight and early Sunday with missile and artillery fire, marking an intensified battle tempo along a crescent-shaped front line stretching 300 miles from southeast to northeast. Moscow, which has signaled wider ambitions to seize the entirety of Ukraine’s southern Black Sea coast and render the country landlocked, confirmed it had
taken aim a day earlier at the airport outside the major port city of Odesa. Ukrainian officials said earlier those strikes on Saturday left the airport inoperable. Russia’s defense ministry routinely describes its targets as military ones, but at least two Ukrainian regional governors depicted the brunt of the latest carnage as falling on civilians. Oleh Sinegubov, the governor of Kharkiv, where the country’s second-largest city is, on Sunday took to the Telegram messaging app to urge civilians to stay in shelters because shelling was so intense. Serhiy Haidai – head of the regional military administration in Luhansk, one of the two provinces making up the See Pelosi, Page A7
US homeland chief warns of migration strain Tribune Content Agency WASHINGTON — The U.S. immigration system would come under intense pressure if the end of a fast-track deportation policy triggers a surge of as many as 18,000 migrants at the southern border, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday. “There is no question that if in fact we reach that number, that is going to be an extraordinary strain on our system,” Mayorkas said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But we are preparing for it.” His comments come as the administration prepares to end on May 23 a public health policy known as Title 42 that has allowed the speedy expulsion of asylum-seekers and other migrants since March 2020 over coronavirus concerns. Some Democrats in the Senate and House, including those in close reelection races this fall,
— N A PA VA L L E Y —
have joined with Republicans to call for the policy to be extended and for a detailed plan for how the Department of Homeland Security would deal with an anticipated influx of newcomers. The department’s contingency plans contemplate a spike in arrivals, potentially as many as 18,000 per day – a surge Mayorkas said would tax the agency despite efforts to be “ready for anything.” “We’ve been planning since September of 2021 for the eventual end of Title 42,” Mayorkas said on “Fox News Sunday.” One of the pillars of that plan “is to work with our partners to the south and really ensure that they manage their respective borders, because the challenge of migration is not exclusive to the United States,” he said. Mayorkas on April 26 released a sixpart program for dealing with the expected See Strain, Page A7
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