I have written in the past about the assumption that busing our kids "to/from" school at noontime is a loss of transportation.
Here is my REAL issue with this assumption... In the meeting last night they said their calculation predicted 30% will use Care or Enrichment. If they had then assumed in the calculation that they had to bus home the other 70%... their savings would drop by MORE THAN HALF.
Hence, I do not think they would have pursued going to 1/2 Day Kindergarten option if the savings was less than $200K.
So, why isn't anyone else upset that the assumption is that over 250 of us will now have to pick-up/drop-off at noontime? I can say that if they eliminated morning busing to the highschool there would be an UPROAR!
Please write the board if you think their assumptions for 1/2 Day Kindergarten should compare it to how District Wide 1/2 Day Kindergarten used to be... Other than last year they were REQUIRED to provide transportation for our students to and from school! It was eliminated last year because there were only 35 kids district wide in 1/2 Day.
Make them do the analysis that shows that the REAL savings for 1/2 Day kindergarten is a busing issue!
These are my calculations based on some of the numbers from documents from the school.
Loss of 9 teachers x $65K = $582K savings 10% student loss (40) x $8400 -$340K hit Revenue from Care/Enrichment? $100K rev Total $342K savings
If they had added Busing cost back in: 2 runs school each way at $8,500 = $170K loss
Total net savings to revert back to 1/2 Day Kindergarten would then have been ~$170K
My question again... why do they assume our kids won't need to be bused to and from school at noontime?
Someone... please poke a hole in my logic?
Why aren't we AT LEAST demanding that they resume 1/2 Day Kindergarten to the level that it was in previous years when it was District wide? I believe if they do that analysis... it will show 1/2 Day Kindergarten isn't the great cost savings that they believe it to be!
The way I see it as Mr Kortland said last night in the meeting if the teacher's and staff take a wage cut all our budget problems can be fixed. In times where everybody is taking a pay cut why is it that their wages see 1% increment yearly plus thay enjoy the best health coverage with $0 co-pay?
Parents manage to drive their kids to preschool, daycare, hockey, ice skating, gymnastics, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, piano lessons, religious education, and the list goes on and on... they will be able to drive their kids to school if need be. Cutting transportation is an easy solution in order to save full day kindergarden!
I have written in the past about the assumption that busing our kids "to/from" school at noontime is a loss of transportation.
ReplyDeleteHere is my REAL issue with this assumption... In the meeting last night they said their calculation predicted 30% will use Care or Enrichment. If they had then assumed in the calculation that they had to bus home the other 70%... their savings would drop by MORE THAN HALF.
Hence, I do not think they would have pursued going to 1/2 Day Kindergarten option if the savings was less than $200K.
So, why isn't anyone else upset that the assumption is that over 250 of us will now have to pick-up/drop-off at noontime? I can say that if they eliminated morning busing to the highschool there would be an UPROAR!
Please write the board if you think their assumptions for 1/2 Day Kindergarten should compare it to how District Wide 1/2 Day Kindergarten used to be... Other than last year they were REQUIRED to provide transportation for our students to and from school! It was eliminated last year because there were only 35 kids district wide in 1/2 Day.
Make them do the analysis that shows that the REAL savings for 1/2 Day kindergarten is a busing issue!
These are my calculations based on some of the numbers from documents from the school.
ReplyDeleteLoss of 9 teachers x $65K = $582K savings
10% student loss (40) x $8400 -$340K hit
Revenue from Care/Enrichment? $100K rev
Total $342K savings
If they had added Busing cost back in:
2 runs school each way at $8,500 = $170K loss
Total net savings to revert back to 1/2 Day Kindergarten would then have been ~$170K
My question again... why do they assume our kids won't need to be bused to and from school at noontime?
Someone... please poke a hole in my logic?
Why aren't we AT LEAST demanding that they resume 1/2 Day Kindergarten to the level that it was in previous years when it was District wide? I believe if they do that analysis... it will show 1/2 Day Kindergarten isn't the great cost savings that they believe it to be!
Note - I left out the note in my calcuation that there are 5 schools that would require buses.
ReplyDelete(2 runs x 2 (pick-up / drop-off) x 5 schools x $8500) = $170K
The way I see it as Mr Kortland said last night in the meeting if the teacher's and staff take a wage cut all our budget problems can be fixed. In times where everybody is taking a pay cut why is it that their wages see 1% increment yearly plus thay enjoy the best health coverage with $0 co-pay?
ReplyDeleteParents manage to drive their kids to preschool, daycare, hockey, ice skating, gymnastics, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, piano lessons, religious education, and the list goes on and on... they will be able to drive their kids to school if need be. Cutting transportation is an easy solution in order to save full day kindergarden!
ReplyDelete