Program Additions - Palo Alto Unified School District

BOARD OF EDUCATION
Attachment:
PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Date:
TO:
Glenn “Max” McGee, Superintendent
FROM:
Cathy Mak, Chief Business Officer
SUBJECT:
2015-16 Additional Resource Allocations
Discussion
2
03.31.15
Changes have been made to this report since its original posting. They are noted in bold italics underscore.
STRATEGIC PLAN INITIATIVE
Budget Trends and Infrastructure
RECOMMENDATION
This item was tabled at the regular meeting of March 24, 2015. Changes made to this document after the
posting for that meeting are noted in bold italics. Pending the discussion at this meeting, it will be recommended at
the April 21, 2015, meeting that the Board approve the additional resource allocations for 2015-16.
BACKGROUND
As the economy continues to improve, so does the District’s financial position. Property tax growth has
returned to a healthier trend since 2012-13. For 2015-16 however, some of the additional property tax
revenues will be offset by enrollment growth, reduction in lease revenue, and increased contributions to
the retirement systems and some funds will be made available for program enhancements and salary
improvements. Similar to the past two years, the District started discussions in the fall with principals
and the leadership team regarding program needs and augmentations that would improve the
experience of our students. These discussions were guided by the District’s Strategic Plan. The
program additions identified through these discussions total $2.1 million.
During recent Board discussions on the budget, some Board members expressed the desire to wait for
the recommendations from the Minority Achievement and Talent Development (MATD) Advisory
Committee and further budget discussions before approving the program additions for 2015-16. Staff
anticipates recommendations from the MATD in May. While there may be an interest from the Board to
wait for the MATD recommendations, approving strategic key staffing positions now is crucial in order
to attract the best candidates. Also, based on discussions in the MATD meetings so far, it is anticipated
most recommendations can be funded through the additional Parcel Tax revenue in the proposed 2015
Parcel Tax Measure. These proposed key positions, #1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 10 in the list below, total about
$1.68 million and represent 0.8% of the District’s budget.
PROPOSAL
Based on discussions with the leadership team, the following is a proposed list of program additions for
2015-16, totaling $2,086,941.
1. Elementary School Staffing Increase ($600,000) - The District will allocate a total of
$600,000 to the elementary schools. The funds will be used to fund an additional 1.0 FTE
instructional TOSA to support the needs of all the elementary sites. This will allow each site to
have one day of a TOSA for Literacy and one day for Math coaching support. In addition, all 13
schools will each receive a 0.3 FTE to support their schools as determined by site needs.
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Increasing school site allocations allow school sites’ flexibility in fulfilling their unique student
needs. Most of the sites plan to use the funds to increase certificated staffing, specifically
Reading Specialist and Math Specialist support positions. Reading and math are consistently
identified as gateway skills for learning throughout a student’s journey through our schools.
Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic Excellence Learning (A1, A2)
2. Secondary School Certificated Staffing Increase ($358,864) – The District will fund an
additional 3.0 FTE Instructional TOSA to support teachers at the secondary schools with
instructional strategies as they transition to common core state standards, Next Generation
Science Standards, Social Studies Document Based Questioning, and literacy anchor
standards. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic Excellence & Learning (A1, A2)
3. Middle School Administrative Support ($363,156) – The District will fund an additional 2.80
FTE Dean (1.0 – Jordan, 1.0 – JLS, 0.8 – Terman as district is currently paying 0.20 FTE
TOSA) for the middle schools to perform administrative support duties to address the increase
of enrollment, additional administrative responsibilities, and support comprehensive programs.
Strategic Plan Initiative: B – Personal Development & Support (B1, B2)
4. Health Tech ($100,332) – The District will increase the Health Tech positions at each of the
middle schools by 0.25 FTE bringing these positions to full-time. In addition, due to the
shortage of qualified applicants for our vacant Health Tech positions, a reclassification study is
planned to review Health Tech salaries in the County. Strategic Plan Initiative: B – Personal
Development & Support (B1, B2)
5. High School Administrative Support ($157,905) – The District will reclassify the half time
Dean position to a full time Assistant Principal position at the two high schools to perform
administrative support duties to address the increase of enrollment, additional administrative
responsibilities, and support comprehensive programs. This addition will allow each high
school to have four Assistant Principals. This move will also free up an additional 0.50
FTE to use in their staffing to be used to lower class size. Strategic Plan Initiative: B –
Personal Development & Support (B1, B2)
6. High School Classified Staffing ($133,253) – The District will fund an additional 2.0 FTE
classified staffing to perform clerical and secretarial duties to support the staff, students, and
community due to the increasing amount of work created by the increased of enrollment.
Strategic Plan Initiative: C – Staff Development & Recruitment (C3)
7. Student Research Coordinator ($142,862) – The District will fund a 1.0 FTE Coordinator
position. The Coordinator will design, develop, deliver, and evaluate electives for high school
students that provide a framework for students to conduct original investigations on compelling
questions of interest; collaborate with other students and on-campus or off-campus
professionals such as educators, researchers, and scholars; and to share their investigation
results through professional presentations, competitions, and publications. The individual will
also create AAR curricular standards that focus on all aspects of research in the sciences,
social sciences, and humanities. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic Excellence &
Learning (A1, A2)
8. Bus Driver ($66,920) – The District will provide a dedicated bus to provide transportation for
approximately 60 Voluntary Transfer Program (VTP) students to get to and from East Palo
Alto. This will require the District to employ a full-time bus driver to provide a morning drop off
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and a series of after-school bus runs. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic Excellence &
Learning (A3)
9. High School Graduation Costs ($30,000) – The District currently funds $8,000 to each high
school on graduation costs. We will allocate an additional $15,000 to each high school to help
absorb more of the cost. This will free up more funds at the school level to address site level
needs. Strategic Plan Initiative: D – Budget & Infrastructure (D1)
10. English Language Learner/Bilingual/Support ($59,811) – The District will fund a 0.50 FTE
ELL/Bilingual Support TOSA. The FTE ELL/Bilingual Support TOSA will work with families
served under the ELL programs, as well as the broader community, to create collaborative
partnerships that strengthen access to information, community resources, and academic
excellence that support student success. The FTE ELL/Bilingual Support TOSA will assist in
overcoming language barriers, encouraging parental involvement and building positive
relationships. Welcoming and engaging families from diverse backgrounds require
intentionality and understanding of inclusion. The ELL/VTP can begin by expanding ongoing
efforts. Currently a primary language tutor works one day a week for three hours at the
following sites: Walter Hays, Hoover, Addison, and Duveneck under the direction of ELL/VTP
office to pilot parent outreach. The pilot has been very successful in engaging families,
supporting them as they attend teacher conferences, Student Study Teams, and accessing
information about site events. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic Excellence &
Learning (A3)
11. Student Services Secretary ($34,902) – The District will fund an additional 0.50 FTE of
Secretary support making the current position to a full-time position. The Student Services
Office responsibilities continue to grow as social issues emerge and impact school
communities. In the last three years, the Student Services Office has taken on a number of
new initiatives, including: bullying prevention efforts, outreach via various committees,
development of a social work intern program, and implementation of various district-wide
community events. Many of these new responsibilities reflect best practices mandated by
federal and state legislation. In order to continue to support in these important efforts, a full
time administrative assistant is required. This will afford the Student Services Office
opportunities to continue to provide leadership in the areas of safety, wellness, and
social/emotional development, policy, and practice. Strategic Plan Initiative: C – Staff
Development & Recruitment (C3)
12. Other ($38,936) – The District will support the following additional services Strategic Plan
Initiative: A – Academic Excellence & Learning (A1, A2); Strategic Plan Initiative: C –
Staff Development & Recruitment (C3)
a. One day of professional development for Spectra Art ($3,936);
b. Spectra Art Supplies ($28,000); and
c. Music Instrument Repair ($7,000).
13. Licensed Mental Health Therapist ($250,000) – To support student mental health and
wellness needs at our high schools, we are requesting 2.0 FTE be employed
immediately. Licensed Mental Health Therapists provide essential Tier One Intervention
support for students who are having social, emotional, and/or behavioral challenges.
The therapists also design appropriate interventions for the teachers of these students
to differentiate instruction, to incorporate social-emotional and behavioral classroom
plans, and to support and monitor student progress and mental health. The high school
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principals have requested these positions as the best way to provide the most needed
services for the largest number of students. Strategic Plan Initiative: B – Personal
Development and Support (B1-3)
These additions can be funded in the following ways. One is to modify the existing program
addition request as follows:
2. Secondary School Certificated Staffing: Fund 2.0 FTE Instructional TOSAs instead of 3.0
FTE. ($120,000)
6. High School Classified Staffing: Fund 1.0 FTE instead of 2.0 FTE for clerical support.
($65,000)
9. High School Graduation Costs: These costs have been funded by the schools in the
past. We would have them do the same for 2015-16. ($30,000)
12. Other: The additional services will be funded through existing professional
development and materials and supplies budgets. ($40,000)
TOTAL: $255,000
The second is to fund the additional positions from the current 2014-15 budget because our
property tax revenues exceeded earlier projections and funds are available.
The third is to fund these positions from reserves. Once negotiations with PAEA and CSEA are
finalized, and once we receive the final tax revenue adjustments from the County, we will have
an accurate picture of our reserves. Assuming the reserves will be over and above the
10 percent required by policy, I will be recommending an amount be designated solely for
student health and wellness supports. Ideally, we can earmark at least $500,000. As mentioned
at an earlier meeting, we will also be recommending designating an amount for start-up costs
for a new school.
* All staffing costs are projected using total salary plus statutory and health and welfare benefits.
** A full time employee equates to 1.0 FTE
Total Additions: $2,086,941
Attachments:
Appendix A: PAUSD Strategic Plan
Appendix B: 2012-13 Program Additions
Appendix C: 2013-14 Program Additions
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for 2013-14
Total: $2,609,500
Board Approval: 03.12.13
Appendix C – 2013-14 Additional Resource Allocations for 2014-15
1. High School Certificated Staffing Increase ($689,700) - The District will fund an additional 6.05
FTE (2.80 – Gunn, 3.05 – Paly) at the high schools. This additional staffing will be used to give the
sites the ability to lower class size, offer additional classes to support members of the Class of
2016 in completing more rigorous graduation requirements and provide more opportunities for
student choice in selecting classes. This increase will fully restore the 08-09 and 10-11 budget
reductions and also restore the high school staffing formula to more accurately reflect the number
of classes taken by each student. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic Excellence &
Learning (A1, A2)
2. Middle School Certificated Staffing Increase ($176,700) – The District will fund an additional
1.55 FTE (0.6 – Jordan, 0.6 – JLS, 0.35 – Terman) at the middle schools. This additional staffing
will be used to give the sites the ability to lower class size and offer additional classes. This
increase will fully restore the 08-09 and 10-11 budget reductions. As with the high schools, this
supports our efforts to have students more fully prepared for high school and the accompanying
rigorous high school graduation requirements. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic
Excellence & Learning (A1, A2)
3. Elementary School Reading Specialist ($205,200) – The District will fund an additional 0.15 FTE
of reading specialist time at each elementary site for a total increase of 1.8 FTE. This will increase
the District allocation from 0.25-0.40 FTE per site to 0.40-0.55 FTE, depending upon site size.
Reading is consistently identified as a gateway skill for learning throughout a student’s journey
through our schools. Our present staffing comes, in part, from Parcel Taxes but is supplemented
by site funds at every elementary school. Increasing District funding allows school sites flexibility in
fulfilling their unique student needs. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic Excellence &
Learning (A1, A2, A3)
4. Elementary Campus Supervision Allocation ($135,000) – The District will increase the funding
for elementary campus supervision by 65% in order help foster Safe and Welcoming Schools. At
present, the funding from the district does not cover the full costs and elementary schools must add
site funds to staff campus supervision fully. Strategic Plan Initiative: B – Personal Development
& Support (B2)
5. High School Classified Library Staffing ($100,000) – The District will add classified library
staffing at both high schools to enable longer hours and additional educational programs to be
offered throughout the day. This supports our goal of having every student have the support and
time they need to complete the A-G course requirements. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic
Excellence & Learning (A3)
6. Technology/IT Systems Administrator ($125,000) – This individual will perform a variety of tasks
that enable existing services to run better and new services to be deployed. Responsibilities will
include evaluating and implementing new IT applications requested by the schools, resolving IT
application functionality and availability issues, and providing support to IT technicians when they
are unable to resolve problems on their own and setting up new users and groups. Strategic Plan
Initiative: D – Budget & Infrastructure (D3)
7. IT Project Support Coordinator ($125,000) – This additional staff member will take on some of
the support load that comes directly to the District Office, including Schoology and Infinite Campus
support requests freeing existing staff up to deliver a backlog of new capabilities. This individual
will also take on the day to day administration of the iConnect program and will build and manage a
consumables inventory to improve response time for routine items. Strategic Plan Initiative: D –
Budget & Infrastructure (D3)
8. High School Technician and Network Technician ($100,000) – This position will allow for a fulltime IT tech at Paly and a full-time network technician. Adding this position will bring each high
school to two full-time technicians and allow the network technician to focus on their network
responsibilities which will include phones, clocks, bells, paging and video surveillance. Many of
these duties were the responsibility of the Maintenance Department but are now appropriately
within the IT department. Strategic Plan Initiative: D – Budget & Infrastructure (D3)
9. Middle School Tech Support ($100,000) – The District will add an IT technician to support the
three middle schools. This position will be 0.4 FTE – Jordan, 0.4 FTE – JLS, and 0.2 FTE –
Terman. The tech support will help the sites with their increased number of educational technology
devices and with the implementation of online common core testing. Increased tech support was
identified by middle school administrators as a key need of their schools and adding this staff will
allow teachers to improve and adopt teaching methods and deepen content knowledge. Strategic
Plan Initiative: D – Budget & Infrastructure (D3)
10. HR Payroll/Benefits Support ($120,000) – The District would support the HR/Payroll department
with an additional 1.5 FTE in order to process the increasing amount of work caused by increasing
overall staffing in the District, the new professional development stipend process for the
approximately 800 certificated staff, the increasing work related to the upcoming Affordable Care
Act, the proration of benefits, and the potential shift of work from the Santa Clara County Office of
Education. Strategic Plan Initiative: C – Staff Development & Recruitment (C3)
11. Central Attendance Staffing ($70,000) – Currently, placements of new students are done by
schools. This practice creates challenges and delays in student placement particularly during the
summer time. To solve this problem, it is recommended that Central Attendance will make all
student placements starting with 2014-15 school year. In order to take over this function, Central
Attendance needs to hire additional staff. Staff believes this will improve customer service and the
district’s ability to place students in a more timely and efficient manner. Strategic Plan Initiative: E
– Governance & Communication (E1)
12. Additional periods to Secondary Schools ($68,400) – Additional 0.40 FTE EL teachers at the
middle schools and one video production period at Gunn. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic
Excellence & Learning (A3); Strategic Plan Initiative: D – Budget & Infrastructure (D1)
13. Traveling Team Teachers ($307,800) – Additional 2.70 FTE allocated to elementary Traveling
Team to allow grade level collaborative time at the elementary schools and reduce the class sizes
for the Music and PE classes. Strategic Plan Initiative: A – Academic Excellence & Learning
(A1, A2)
14. Additional School Resource Officer at the High Schools ($100,000) – The District currently has
one SRO. This addition provides a second SRO to support the high schools. The two positions are
jointly funded by the City and the District. Strategic Plan Initiative: B – Personal Development &
Support (B2)
15. Substitute Rate Increase ($200,000) – The daily teacher substitute rate has been increased from
$135 to $152. This budget increase reflects the increased costs. Strategic Plan Initiative: A –
Academic Excellence & Learning (A1, A2)
16. Psychological and Counseling Services ($73,600) – This reflects the increased level of services
for 2014-15. Strategic Plan Initiative: B – Personal Development & Support (B3)
17. Legal Fees ($300,000) – The District’s legal expenses have increased in recent years due to the
increase in public information requests, OCR cases, and difficult personnel issues. Strategic Plan
Initiative: D – Budget & Infrastructure (D1)
Total: $2,996,400
Board Approval: 11.19.13 (Items 1-11)
06.17.14 (Items 12-17)
Palo Alto Unified School District
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Additional Resource Allocation
for 2015-16
March 31, 2015
2
1
Additional Resource Allocation for 2015-16

Targeted to Strategic Plan areas

Product of rich conversation and input

Tethered to our fiscal reality
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Additional Resource Allocation for 2015-16
Academic Excellence & Learning

Elementary Staffing – 4.9 FTE
$600,000

Secondary Certificated TOSA* – 3.0 FTE
$358,864

Student Research Coordinator – 1.0 FTE
$142,862

ELL/Bilingual Support TOSA* – 0.50 FTE
$59,811

Bus Driver – 1.0 FTE
$66,920

Spectra Art Supplies
$28,000

Musical Instrument Repair
Sub-Total:
% of Total Additions:
$7,000
$1,263,457
61%
TOSA = Teacher on special assignment
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2
Additional Resource Allocation for 2015-16
Personal Development & Support

Middle School Dean – 2.8 FTE
$363,156

High School Assistant Principal – 1.00 FTE
$157,905

Middle School Health Technicians – 0.75 FTE
Sub-Total:
% of Total Additions:
$100,332
$621,393
30%
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Additional Resource Allocation for 2015-16
Staff Development & Recruitment

High School Clerical staff – 2.0 FTE
$133,253

Student Services Secretary – 0.50 FTE
$34,902

Professional Development for Spectra Art
Sub-Total:
% of Total Additions:
$3,936
$172,091
8%
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3
Additional Resource Allocation for 2015-16
Budget & Infrastructure

High School Graduation Costs
$30,000
% of Total Additions:
GRAND TOTAL:
1%
$2,086,941
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Next Steps

April


May


Board approval of additional program expansion and enhancement
for 2015-16
Recommendations from the Minority Achievement and Talent
Development (MATD) Advisory Committee
June

Board approval of additional program additions for 2015-16 from
the MATD Advisory Committee recommendations
8
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