Reading, writing, and arithmetic, but most of all – recession.
Doing more with less has become fundamental to education in the Sunnyside Unified School District as officials try to slash costs and teachers struggle to scrape by in the wake of the state’s budget crunch.
The situation has become so grim that even necessities can’t be taken for granted, said Michael Barr, who has been teaching for more than 22 years at Sierra Middle School, 5801 S. Del Moral Blvd.“We’re lucky if we even get pencils,” Barr said.
The state’s budget shortfall has forced Sunnyside to eliminate $500,000 that would have gone to school supplies, said Monique Soria, a district spokeswoman.
And that’s only part of the equation. In all, Sunnyside must cut $2.3 million, Soria said.
To meet its obligations, the district has also cut $1.3 million from the maintenance and operations budgets and $500,000 from unrestricted capital, she said.
The cuts mean substantially less money for school repairs and buses. Field trips, for example, are a luxury of the past, said Maria Brown, who teaches at Los Ranchitos Elementary School, 2054 E. Ginter Road.
“They’ve already hit us hard,” Brown said, adding that she fears additional cuts.
And more cuts are on the way. The district still needs $516,000 to operate through the rest of the school year, Soria said.
To cover the cost, the district governing board approved more reductions in February to summer school and substitute teaching, she said.
Sunnyside will substantially reduce summer school offerings, completely eliminating its elementary school program, and offer middle school at only three locations. Summer school will still be offered at district high schools, but only four days a week. Staff will work four 10-hour days to cut back on utilities and transportation, Soria said.
Sunnyside also hopes to save money by scaling back on substitute teachers. Instead, Sunnyside will use existing staff already on the district payroll. More teachers will be asked to substitute teach during their planning and prep periods. Also, support staff and administrators will have to step into the classroom. This means that emergency personnel, counselors, reading coaches and teacher’s aides will all have to fill in for absent teachers, Soria said.
By cutting back on substitute teachers, Sunnyside hopes to save at least $250,000 for the rest of this school year, about half of the $450,000 originally budgeted for substitute teaching, she said.
The Sunnyside Governing Board has also approved a one-day furlough for all employees if necessary, but officials are waiting to see how effective other cost-saving measures are before forcing staff to take unpaid leave, Soria said.
“They’re hesitant to do it… but we still need more money than we have,” she said.
The furlough would be taken at the end of the school year and would be a substantial savings to the district. Officials have estimated that a one-day furlough would save the district $358,000, Soria said.
Deep budget cuts and the looming threat of furloughs have left teachers feeling frustrated with a state they feel is shortchanging children.
“We want to treat our students like our own personal kids and want to make sure they have everything possible,” said Brown, who recently purchased a heavy-duty printer with her own money to copy homework assignments for her students.
“It’s like, we’re number 52 out of 50 states [in educational funding],” said Barr, laughing.
The Sunnyside Educators Association, the district teacher’s union, organized a rally at the State Capitol on Feb. 26, using what could have been a day off as an opportunity to make their voices heard. The union sponsored the event and paid for 20 buses loaded with parents, teachers and students to drive to Phoenix where participants protested budget cuts.
“We want to raise awareness and give clarity to what is really being cut in schools,” said Larisa Velasco, a teacher at Drexel Elementary School, 801 E. Drexel Road, who attended the event.
Jose Epinosa, a student at Star Academy Charter School, said that he went to the rally because he is concerned schools will be forced to cut some of his favorite classes to pay for the bare necessities.
Jose especially enjoys taking music classes and considers himself a singer, but with schools struggling to keep pencils in the hands of students nothing is sacred, especially electives.
“They’re cutting back on everything…but we need that break in the day,” he said.
People concerned about the cuts to education should contact the governor’s office and their state legislators, Soria said. Sunnyside has contact information listed on its Web site for the governor and Southern Arizona legislators.
