The superintendent of the Los Alamitos Unified School System told the board on Tuesday that, as much as he wanted to present them a picture of what school might look like in the fall, there are still “more questions than answers.”
“I know what’s on everyone’s mind is what about next year; what’s going to happen with the 20-21 school year,” said Pulver. “I wish I could sit here and tell you that we had all the answers, but actually, at this time, we have more questions than answers,” the superintendent said.
He assured them, however, that they were working on several action plans, one for each potential contingency, but he said until Gov. Gavin Newsom and the State Superintendent Tucker are able to set policy, there is little the system can do but plan for whatever may come next.
Newsom did release some guidance after the LAUSD meeting, but Pulver said late in the week that “we are still trying to assess what the revision will mean for us.”
Pulver said “it is looking like a 10 percent reduction,” but “we are told the budget could be further reduced in August or September after the income tax extensions are filed.”
So, with a projected COVID deficit of more than $50 billion for the state, Pulver said district superintendents are being told to plan for a reduction in funding from 10-20 percent.
Pulver said he and his staff are in constant communications with principals and other administrators, and “we are bracing ourselves for the impact.”
That said, Pulver said the board may likely be able to compensate by eliminating the implementation of some new programs, implying no major cuts to existing programs. But as Pulver repeatedly implied, it is still “too early to tell.”
At the last regular meeting in April, Pulver and the system’s financial consultant reported that overall, LAUSD is in excellent financial shape. In fact, because of the market’s currently low interest rates, the system is even reconsidering re-financing Measures G and K, potentially saving taxpayers millions over the life of the bonds.
Pulver said the financial staff is working with bond experts to determine the viability of such an option.
Nevertheless, Pulver said there are many hybrid approaches being considered by various systems for how schools will be administrated this fall.
Most include some level of “physical” school, although Pulver said it cannot yet be totally clear what that might look like.
And, he said, if digital instruction is to be included, it will look much different than what students received during the crisis, which Pulver termed “emergency distance learning (see related story).”
Accordingly, Pulver gave the board several potential dates for the opening day of school for next year, indicating that the school could, and perhaps should, be put off until the last potential date of August 31, which would allow for the latest updates yet still allow time to shoehorn all of the programs required for the next school year.
In other action, LAUSD:
• Heard a heartfelt presentation from outgoing student board representative Blake Ravelo before honoring him for his service and welcomed incoming student rep, Nico Villanueva.
• Heard an emotional superintendent narrate a video highlighting the individual contributions each of the retiring schoolteachers and staff had made to the system as it will lose nearly 400 years of cumulative experience.
• Approved a presentation by Ondrea Reed, assistant superintendent for instruction, renaming two courses for digital media and film and television production, allowing the names of the courses to “more accurately reflect what is taught in the scope and sequence of each course.”