The OWL Newsletter

MARCH 2009

TALKING ABOUT MONEY…BLOGGING BRAVELY BRINGS BENEFITS
FOR A SUPE WHO GIVES A HOOT

This curious owl is circling the state, caught in a financial hurricane of epic proportions. Like you, I must roll with it. No use flying against the wind. My fellow owls across the Pacific tell me to make like bamboo—strength, they tell me, is in the power to flex.

I've peeked into countless K–12 kingdoms. Most castles have prepared for the storm in similar ways: meetings, announcements, cuts, budgets, contingency plans. But a select few are taking unusual steps. For those of you ready to think differently, I would like to share my notes on two leaders whose districts are surviving the storm with apparent success: less conflict, less confusion, and fewer tears. Their secret: candid, clear communication. They are Joel Shawn (Arcadia USD) and Jim Negri (Acalanes UHSD).

BLOGGING FOR CONNECTIONS

JOEL SHAWN, ARCADIA USD

I was swept by the hurricane first down to the San Gabriel Valley, where the level of citizen connection to schools is high. Although the community of Arcadia is a prosperous one, its school district has not been spared the wrath of this hurricane. Like most districts, his team has created PowerPoint presentations explaining where future cuts will come from, and why. Their website offers a view of the obvious: 88 percent of general fund, unrestricted spending is dedicated to salaries and benefits. But unlike most superintendents, Joel Shawn is blogging.

Blogging is a two-way dialogue when it works. In Arcadia, it is working at a rapid clip. Joel wrote his first blog entry on Feb. 21. By the end of February, nine people had submitted comments. (Yes, Joel answered most of them. And yes, he’s a man who’s comfortable expressing himself in written form.) But by March 8, a dozen more people posted their comments: teachers, a student, parents, and interested citizens. By March 15, 29 more posts appeared on the blog. No rants. No flaming missives. No self-indulgent venting. Just 29 intelligent, thoughtful comments, questions, and suggestions. Listed below are some of the submitted blog comments.

On the idea broached in February of an across-the-board 10 percent salary cut for all staff:

If you took a vote from all residents/teachers/staff in Arcadia, I'm sure they'd vote for a 10% pay cut to keep jobs. I've taken a 10% pay-cut so we could all keep our jobs during these difficult times. My daughter's teacher is exceptionally talented and devoted to her job and has been inspirational to all her students. My daughter thinks she is the best teacher she has ever had. It would be a huge loss to our community to lose teachers like her. If the superintendents and senior staff members take a pay cut, that'll help.

An idea from a teacher supporting pay cuts, a teacher who recalls the 1991-92 cutbacks in LAUSD:

My father worked 35 years for LAUSD and in the 90's they took a 5% pay cut to save the jobs of teachers there. Did they suffer the long term effects that are listed here? No, because they union bargained the cut so that it would be put back into their pay when they got out of the economic crisis they were in...WITH INTEREST! This kept everybody on track with their step increases, ultimately AND it saved jobs.

From a parent on the method of deciding which teachers got notice of potential layoff:

Thanks, Dr. Shawn for spending your time in answering parents' concern. If you have to lay off teachers, why not based on their performance? School should have students/parents evaluate on their teachers and let go those who get bad evaluation. It is unfair to lay off valuable teachers just based on seniority.

In response to citizens who suggested that the district staff, and Joel Shawn in particular, take bigger pay cuts, a student rose to the occasion, arguing convincingly against this idea:

What is perhaps more "outrageous" and "comical" than people being up in arms about the teachers losing their jobs is the notion that others working within the district, Dr. Shawn included, ought to take cuts to their pay.

Suppose they do take a cut to their salaries; how do they decide which teachers will receive that money? There is no fair, objective way to make such a decision.

Also, you should consider first that although they certainly earn more than a teacher annually, a pay cut can only go so far. If by living on $40,000-$50,000 (which, by the way, is less than the teachers of AUSD) for a year, Dr. Shawn can save the jobs of two teachers, this is not a permanent solution by any means. More importantly, it is not at all his responsibility to do so.

What Joel is getting in return for the time he’s dedicated to this written conversation is support, new ideas, and boundaries of reason on the debate that must ensue.

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PRESENTING FACTS FOR CLARITY

JIM NEGRI, ACALANES UHSD

The hurricane carried this owl back up north to the Bay Area, where he was swept over Walnut Creek, Moraga, Lafayette, and Orinda. This is the East Bay prosperity zone, where Supt. Jim Negri heads up the Acalanes Union High School District. Its four comprehensive and two alternative high schools are engines of success, one of them a National Blue Ribbon award winner. Del Oro High just won the CDE’s recognition as a model continuation high. With a districtwide API of 886, the highest of all 88 high school districts in the state, Jim Negri has much to crow about.

Still, Jim Negri isn't shy about discussing the district's budget troubles: a $3.9 million deficit next fiscal year, combined with a forecast revenue loss of $1.3 million due to declining enrollment. The two combined troubles of $5.2 million are 9.4 percent of Acalanes' operating expenditures of $55.4 million (FY 2007-08 unaudited).

He is clear about the problem in Sacramento. His energy and factual citations add to his strong voice in this newsletter of March 16 (the top link on his district's Web site):

“Twenty-three days after the California Legislature passed the 2008-09 budget and the ‘earliest on record’ 2009-10 budget … the Legislative Analyst Office declared the 2008-09 budget to have an $8 billion shortfall.…If the May 19th tax and expenditure propositions do not pass, the state will be facing another $6 billion deficit. Education as the largest portion of the state budget is bound to take another round of budget cuts.”

Jim continues to explain where the cuts will come from and gives readers links to the detail in his board’s minutes: not just how many teachers, but which positions, and similar detail for classified staff. He then urges citizens to action of three kinds: writing legislators, making donations, and stepping up to campaign for the parcel tax they are planning to renew before it expires in June 2011.

The budget itself is there in a 31-page format for anyone to read if they wish. Acalanes’ team has done a good job of digesting the budget for the board, staff, and parents to wrestle with, but Jim’s communications don’t center on the budget. They are about the district’s financial vital signs.

Jim also provides balance in his message. His tone is calm, so any parent growing alarmed at the severity of the cuts ahead will sense a capable hand on the tiller of their ship in this stormy sea. Read this lead paragraph from his monthly newsletter.

“While the budget deficit and associated layoffs have dominated staff time for the past two months, the district has continued to provide a quality education to students. There are many positive things happening throughout the district.”

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Another example of Jim’s willingness for transparency is his Acalanes Fact Sheet , a simple, one-page flyer that features academic vital signs on one side and financial vital signs on the other. The district’s leadership has used this at public meetings with parents and staff and it has worked.

This curious owl is fascinated by how sensible and effective the Acalanes Fact Sheet is. The path to understanding public sector money matters is thick with hazards for anyone who dares communicate about it: the tripline of terminology, the quicksand by complexity, the avalanche of abstraction. But Jim has a map of the dangerous landscape and a compass to guide him. That compass is compare-and-contrast. (Yes, the same method our English teachers of yesteryear used to help us make sense of literature and the meaning of texts.)

Comparisons make meaning emerge, but only if you choose your comparative benchmarks wisely. Acalanes’ team does this at the A+ level, in this owl’s humble opinion. Look at these examples, and you’ll see why.

Although the data is a little stale (FY 2005-06 as per Ed-Data Partnership), showing the relative position of Acalanes to other districts with the same job to do—educate high school students—is a smart way to frame their revenue story. Updating the Fact Sheet with more current financial data would provide still more clarity.

Jim knows his community. He reaches for comparative measures of school funding that will matter to his parents. When the next parcel tax measure rolls around, they will not want to think of themselves as being stingy with schools in comparison to their Evanston or Scarsdale peers.

With the same frame on the issue (all high school districts), Jim makes a comparison on the expense side, looking at the Current Expense of Education. Since that’s defined by statute, it’s a pretty safe comparison to make.

No doubt, having heard citizens question whether the district was top-heavy in the past, Jim is prepared to nip that question in the bud. He uses evidence to show that Acalanes is, in fact, much lighter on administrative staff than comparable districts.

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THE LAST HOOT

Arcadia and Acalanes are not on this owl’s A+ list because they’re running school districts in prosperous communities. They made it to this bird’s attention because they are worth emulating. These leaders, although they have taken two very different approaches to communicating about money trouble, are brave, candid, and clear. Here’s what they share:

They are ready to trust their public and staff. Joel opens his blog to two-way conversations. He listens and he answers back. Jim listens too. His community wants to know where the district stands. Jim replies in clear terms, making comparisons to similar districts in similar communities.
They use no mumbo-jumbo. Jargon is out. They speak the language of their public, rather than ask their public to wade through the gibberish of J-90s and the floral phrases of finance.
They share how they feel, as well as think, about this calamitous contraction. Joel and Jim open up to their readers. You can taste their frustration. They are also calm in the face of the challenge. Their tone conveys their readiness to lead. This encourages parents to be reassured—no small matter when every student who exits a district increases its financial strain.
They use evidence when they write. This means numbers. Not the kind you shovel on your reader’s doorstep. Burying the reader with too many numbers doesn’t help. They use only the right numbers, selected with care.
They compare and contrast. When they present numbers, they compare them to other numbers that matter. It is only in comparing that they reach the promised land: making meaning emerge.

You can do the same. If you’d like some help communicating about money, ask this owl. He knows some people.

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REFERENCES

Arcadia USD Web site home page
Acalanes UHSD Web site home page
Jim Negri’s March 16 budget update
Acalanes’ board minutes detailing proposed teacher cuts
Acalanes 2008-09 adopted budget

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