Assistant principals, sports slashed in MJUSD
A $78.1 million budget that includes cuts to sports programs and assistant principal positions — reductions said spurred by state cutbacks in funding — won approval Tuesday by Marysville Joint Unified School District trustees.
The revenue and spending plan eliminates assistant principal jobs at Cedar Lane and Kynoch elementary schools and cuts funding for sports in grades 6-12 by $67,000.
Trustee Jim Flurry, noting his work with the California School Boards Association, said the finances of the district compare well with the rest of the state.
"Nobody is in the shape we are," Flurry said. "They're much worse."
Budget cuts include closing the swimming pool at Marysville High School six to eight months each year to save $20,000.
Trustee Bernie Rechs said before Tuesday's school board meeting that the cut to sports programs comes with the suggestion to reduce the number of non-league games in baseball and basketball.
"I understand that baseball likes to play 30 games," Rechs said. "But that's a lot."
In a separate change, seventh- and eighth-grade students at Yuba Feather Elementary in Challenge will attend Foothill Intermediate, about 15 miles away.
Rechs said before that he attended the Yuba Feather graduation and that 13 students were in the eighth-grade class.
The principal at Yuba Feather will now serve as the principal at Dobbins Elementary as well.
Michael Schlussler, president of the Marysville Unified Teachers Association, said of the enrollment shift "Small schools in the foothills are losing attendance."
"It's unfortunate for the children who have to spend so much more time on a bus," Schlussler said of Yuba Feather seventh- and eighth- graders attending Foothill.
He said that eliminating assistant principal positions involve "the kind of administrative cuts that are right next to the classroom." Assistant principals play key roles in student discipline, Schlussler said.
Mark Allgire, assistant superintendent for business services, told trustees during his review of the budget that the number of students in the district is expected to increase in the next two to five years.
"We still believe over the near future that we will show enrollment growth," Allgire said. "We certainly haven't seen it yet."
Trustees voted 4-1 to adopt the budget, with Sandy Fonley opposed.
"It didn't cut into the administrative costs as deeply as it should have," Fonley said.
The cuts to this budget will be followed by an expected $4 million of additional reductions in 2011-12.
CONTACT Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com
