Schools

Elk Grove Unified Shelves Plan to Eliminate Positions & Give Raises

The district discussed the superintendent's proposal this week.

An Elk Grove Unified School District plan to eliminate some administrative jobs, create some and reorganize others was shelved by trustees this week, the Sacramento Bee reports.

The Bee reports that union leaders, audience members and most of the school board spoke out against the plan, which would have saved the district $180,000 but given some administrators pay raises.

Trustee Bobbie Singh-Allen said in an emailed statement to Patch that she hopes the district gets more public input on the plan.

Singh-Allen's full statement follows:

Reorganization Testimony 

Bobbie Singh-Allen

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The issue is simple. Does the reorganization plan serve the best interest of the District and the students?

The rule I’m using here is the District’s mission:

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Our Mission 

    • Elk Grove Unified School District will provide a learning community that challenges ALL students to realize their greatest potential.

    District’s Core Values

      • Outcomes for students 
      • Commitments about how we operate as an organization
      • High expectations for learning for all students and staff

      I commend Dr. Ladd for innovation included in the proposal. Mental Health and Special Education reorganization provides a tremendous opportunity for our District to be on the forefront of policy changes that will serve the needs of our students. 

      The Native American Program is important and reinforces the mission of our District. The position as stated has the potential to reach out in even greater ways to our Native American student population.

      These two programs advance the Districts mission and core values. 

      I want our Superintendent to have the tools to succeed in meeting the needs of our children. The tools to success come through sharpening them through public participation. 

      Mental Health and Special Education is too important of an issue for us as a board to evaluate tonight. I propose a Special Ed/Mental Health reorg presents an opportunity for a slower process with more community engagement on the proposal and how we structure that program. We should set it for its own board hearing, community meetings, and bring in some experts from outside the district to provide testimony and input. We should slow the process down, and break it into component parts, and shed sunlight on a lot of issues. 

      In regards to some of the other components in the reorganization plan: why do these employees need new titles to do the same job at higher pay when others do not? We need to cast a broad vision for evaluating how we will rebuild a wage and personnel infrastructure decimated by the hacksaw of extreme budget as revenue stabilizes.

      Administrators have made big sacrifices and worked harder to save us money during tough times. That argument can be made for just about everyone in the district. If that is justification for spending more money on salaries, then before we approve spending the money on these folks, we need to discuss spending it on other people who sacrificed in tough times. The pay cuts/furloughs had more significant way-of-life consequences for low wage earners, even if they dollar impact was greater for admins. We have fewer employees doing more work all over the district, why reward one group?

      I want to be consistent with my vote. I voted for pink slips to be issued because of budget uncertainty. I voted for Categorical Flex Spending last week due to budget uncertainty. I cannot vote for pay raises since we do not know how much money we will get from LCFF or Prop. 30. The re-organization plan has some excellent components that would benefit the District. However, the pay raises at this time will not in my opinion be in the best interest of the District or the students tonight.

      The reorganization proposal resembles an omnibus bill often used by members of Congress. It is a proposed law that covers a number of diverse or unrelated topics. An omnibus bill is a single document that is accepted in a single vote by a legislature but packages together several measures into one or combines diverse subjects.

      Unlike a member of Congress, we as a Board have a say in how the package is put together and voted. 

      I walked the front lines for Prop 30 with my son’s teacher Amy Solkovits from Pinkerton Middle School. As money starts to come in, I would like to see raises that are fair and equitable to ALL of our invaluable employees. We sacrificed together, let us rebuild together.

      In Conclusion, this package is really several issues, each deserving of its own review. Since we are discussing the reorganization plan in its entirety, I will vote NO for the reasons stated. There are some excellent components we need to explore further versus a singular vote on the entire package. I believe this is necessary to reinforce the District’s mission and core values.

      I recommend that he Board take no action tonight and allow our Superintendent to bring back a proposal that allows more opportunity for public input in areas of mental health/special education and a process of how, when salaries will be applied for all District employees including progress at the bargaining table. 

      --
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