New SCUSD surveys yield advice from parents, teachers, students as more budget cuts loom
Superintendent wants more engagement with community
By Maria L. Lopez
Feb. 18, 2010 – New surveys of Sacramento teachers, parents and students have generated valuable advice for school district officials as they work to cut up to $30 million more from the budget and prepare a strategic plan, but Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said Thursday more community engagement is needed.
School teachers, administrators and parents surveyed agreed that keeping class sizes small is a top priority. But the Sacramento City Unified School District superintendent said at a news conference Thursday that raising class sizes must remain an option of last resort if employee unions do not agree to cuts elsewhere to make up the budget deficit.
“The survey clearly shows that parents and teachers don’t want larger class sizes, and neither do I,” Raymond said. “But increasing the number of students in class will remain an option if the employee organizations do not work with us to find other areas to reduce the budget.”
Parents and teachers surveyed also agreed that having good, up-to-date textbooks is a top budget priority.
“We received very valuable advice from the public and our employees with these surveys, but much more work needs to be done to engage the community,” said Raymond, who has made more community involvement in schools a top priority. “With these surveys, we heard most often from community members who attend school board meetings or are involved in schools in some other way. We need to do much more to reach out to and involve the thousands of parents and community members who are not normally engaged in what happens in our city’s schools. We will not reach our very high academic goals for our children unless we get broad involvement in public education by the entire community.”
The historic, first-of-its-kind effort to involve Sacramento residents in the improvement of their public schools began Jan.19 when the public and district employees were invited to respond to the online surveys regarding the school district budget and development of a strategic plan. The surveys closed on February 9. Complete results from the surveys are expected soon.
An initial report reveals that 12,855 responses were made to the surveys, including 4,609 students who responded to the survey regarding the strategic plan, and 2,087 teachers and other staff and 2,336 community members who responded to the budget and strategic plan surveys.
Among community members who responded to the survey regarding
Feb. 18, 2010 – New surveys of Sacramento teachers, parents and students have generated valuable advice for school district officials as they work to cut up to $30 million more from the budget and prepare a strategic plan, but Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said Thursday more community engagement is needed.
School teachers, administrators and parents surveyed agreed that keeping class sizes small is a top priority. But the Sacramento City Unified School District superintendent said at a news conference Thursday that raising class sizes must remain an option of last resort if employee unions do not agree to cuts elsewhere to make up the budget deficit.
“The survey clearly shows that parents and teachers don’t want larger class sizes, and neither do I,” Raymond said. “But increasing the number of students in class will remain an option if the employee organizations do not work with us to find other areas to reduce the budget.”
Parents and teachers surveyed also agreed that having good, up-to-date textbooks is a top budget priority.
“We received very valuable advice from the public and our employees with these surveys, but much more work needs to be done to engage the community,” said Raymond, who has made more community involvement in schools a top priority. “With these surveys, we heard most often from community members who attend school board meetings or are involved in schools in some other way. We need to do much more to reach out to and involve the thousands of parents and community members who are not normally engaged in what happens in our city’s schools. We will not reach our very high academic goals for our children unless we get broad involvement in public education by the entire community.”
The historic, first-of-its-kind effort to involve Sacramento residents in the improvement of their public schools began Jan.19 when the public and district employees were invited to respond to the online surveys regarding the school district budget and development of a strategic plan. The surveys closed on February 9. Complete results from the surveys are expected soon.
An initial report reveals that 12,855 responses were made to the surveys, including 4,609 students who responded to the survey regarding the strategic plan, and 2,087 teachers and other staff and 2,336 community members who responded to the budget and strategic plan surveys.
Among community members who responded to the survey regarding
