<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="gmail-ArticlePage-headline" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 40px;font-weight:500;line-height:1.08;letter-spacing:-0.2px;color:rgb(51,51,51)">DMUSD teachers union opposes new reserve policy</h1><div class="gmail-ArticlePage-wrapper" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin-top:40px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Ubuntu,Cantarell,Oxygen,sans-serif,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji","Segoe UI Symbol","Noto Color Emoji";font-size:18px"><div class="gmail-ArticlePage-main-content" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-ArticlePage-lead" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 40px"><img src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/41fe906/2147483647/strip/true/crop/750x422+0+0/resize/840x473!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.trbimg.com%2Fimg-5ceec061%2Fturbine%2Fsd-1559150683-ejzhqidtu2-snap-image" alt="sd-1559150683-ejzhqidtu2-snap-image" width="840" height="473" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: middle; border-style: none; display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 648px;"><div class="gmail-Figure-content" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.17;margin:0px 0px 20px;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0px">The exterior of the Del Mar Union School District office building. <div class="gmail-Figure-credit" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;margin-left:5px">Karen Billing</div></div></div><div class="gmail-ArticlePage-byline" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:flex;margin-bottom:20px;max-width:680px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"><div class="gmail-ArticlePage-bylineText" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;width:auto;margin-bottom:0px;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:10px;line-height:1.2;display:inline"><span class="gmail-ArticlePage-authorBy" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;text-transform:none">By </span>KAREN BILLING</div><div class="gmail-ArticlePage-datePublished" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;letter-spacing:0.2px;line-height:1.2;text-transform:uppercase;word-break:keep-all;margin-right:5px"><div class="gmail-ArticlePage-datePublished-day" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;white-space:nowrap">MAY 29, 2019</div> <div class="gmail-ArticlePage-datePublished-time" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline;white-space:nowrap;margin-left:5px">10:26 AM</div></div></div><div class="gmail-ArticlePage-articleContainer" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:680px;margin:0px auto"><div class="gmail-ArticlePage-articleBody" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-RichTextArticleBody" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box"><div class="gmail-RichTextArticleBody-body gmail-RichTextBody" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;line-height:1.67"><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px 0px 30px">The Del Mar Union School District board is looking to update its policy on the amount of reserves it keeps to ensure it can protect the district’s educational program during economic uncertainty and fluctuations in property taxes.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">In the past the board established a minimum reserve balance of 15 percent of the general fund expenditures plus 3 percent for economic uncertainties—staff has recommended an update to the policy to set the minimum reserve at 17 percent plus the 3 percent for economic uncertainties.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">According to Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Cathy Birks, the district’s reserve balance is typically around 20 percent.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">The board was set to approve a resolution on the new policy at the May 22 meeting but opted to postpone to further discuss in a board workshop on May 23 and revisit at a future board meeting.</p><div class="gmail-Enhancement" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;margin:30px 0px;width:648px"><div id="gmail-googleAd5a511bd5-787c-4e2e-8574-161027ec23af" class="gmail-GoogleDfpAd" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;text-align:center"><span class="gmail-GoogleDfpAd-placeholder" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;display:flex"></span><div id="gmail-google_ads_iframe_/4011/delmar-times/dfp/news_0__container__" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;border:0pt none;width:5px;height:1px"></div></div></div><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">Eric Beinke, Del Mar California Teachers Association president, spoke out in opposition, stating that taxpayer money should be used on students and classrooms right now and should not be put away for a “rainy day that may never come.”</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">“Instead of mandatorily increasing our reserve levels, which are already seven times higher than those required by the state of California, our students and classrooms have needs right now that should be addressed with these funds,” said Beinke, a teacher at Sycamore Ridge Elementary School.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">Beinke said DMCTA members would rather see funds used for fully funding the STEAM + program and restoring music programs which have been cut, additional support and resources for English language learners and funding the district’s new foreign language program. Beinke said DMCTA members would also like to see funds used for increasing support and training around social and emotional education, adding guidance counselors and increasing the number of school psychologists at each school site to help with students’ growing social-emotional needs.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">“Our neighbors in Solana Beach are doing the right thing purposefully spending down their reserves…they designated $350,000 in budget for enhancing mental health and guidance programs,” Beinke said. “This is what we could be doing in Del Mar, rather than raising our already-high reserves.”</p><div id="gmail-nativo_1" style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box"></div><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">During its discussion, the board looked to clarify Beinke’s comment that their reserve is seven times higher than the 3 percent required by the state.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">Birks said the state’s recommended minimum 3 percent reserve level is basically for Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) districts, which Del Mar is not. She said a 3 percent reserve for DMUSD would not be fiscally responsible as it would be about $1.7 million.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">“As a community-funded Basic Aid district, it is imperative that we have reserve balance that will sustain us through when the economy is at a difficult time where we are not sure of how our property tax revenues will come in,” Birks said. “That’s what happened when we went into the Great Recession, in regards to having to spend down the reserve at $2.5 million over two years. By having that reserve we were able to sustain our educational program and keep it intact.”</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">At the meeting the board reviewed the first read of the district’s 2019-20 budget, with revenues at $61,351,376 and expenditures of $58,37,717. Property tax revenues are budgeted at 4.9 percent, above the 2018-19 estimated revenue. Due to declining enrollment, they are projecting a reduction of four teachers and the addition of two foreign language teachers and an additional psychologist.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">Currently they are projecting a $16 million ending fund balance, a 27 percent reserve. With teachers continuing through the interest-based bargaining process on their contracts, the numbers will be adjusted in June, Birks said</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px">Birks said she believes it is the board’s responsibility to work with the administration to ensure that the district is fiscally responsible and making sure that funds go into the classroom. Superintendent Holly McClurg said that the district is diligent about its budget and its priority is that children come first.</p><p style="background-repeat:no-repeat;box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px 0px 0px">“My goal is to never have to layoff teachers because we don’t have enough money,” DMUSD President Erica Halpern said in support of the updated policy.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies                     <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone:  (215) 898-7475<br>Fax:  (215) 573-2138                                      <br><br>Email:  <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a>    <br><br>---------------------------------------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