Woodland Hills School Board Rejects Budget Proposal Tuesday

Woodland Hills School Board Tuesday rejected an $82.6 million budget proposal during a special meeting during which it made extensive amendments to the budget, which could mean cuts across the district next year.

The school board meets again next Monday, three days before its deadline, to vote again on the budget. Two board members were absent from the meeting.

Nineteen elementary teachers and 30 secondary teachers have been furloughed thus far. It is still undecided if any of them will return to their positions. The current proposal holds that eight elementary teachers will be recalled to their positions.  

One thing the board voted in favor of was to put $280,000 in the reserve budget in case of increases of elementary class sizes, which gives the board the option to hire or re-hire teachers.

A big question of the night was whether the board would eliminate the Campus Middle College High School, a program designed for at-risk students. The program draws students and faculty from Woodland Hills, Gateway, Plum and Penn Hills districts. The supporters of that program lining the back of the administration room Tuesday night were pleased to hear the board voted to keep the BCMC program. The board conceded that the difference in costs of eliminating it and keeping it were marginal.

“I’m hoping that this decision will effect the other districts,” BCMC director, Michele Markiewicz said. “Plum was waiting to see what Woodland Hills decided.”

In addition to keeping BCMC, the board voted to keep all four pre-kindergarten classes that were vulnerable to elimination. The board also voted to keep all elementary assistant principals. This decision was followed by a round of applause from all the elementary principals in attendance.  

“The assistant principals play an imperative role,” said principal Allison Kline of Dickson Elementary. “We need them not only to successfully do our jobs, but to help prepare future administration.”

The board voted to eliminate a few positions, including the federal program director and his administrative secretary, along with two tech positions. There were also 15 custodial positions proposed for elimination, which caused tension on the board. Board member Robert Tomasic disagreed with the motion.

“Who decides who loses their job?” Tomasic asked. “Can we trust the discretion of the principals?”

Another conflict arose when he, along with Robert Rinsma, had suggestions for ways to expand the Woodland Hills Academy, allowing for more at-risk students to attend. This differed from the proposed amendment to move seventh and eighth grade from the Academy to Woodland Hills Junior High School at little to no cost to the district.

“I don’t want that to happen,” said Ruby Grant of Rankin, whose son will be going into seventh grade at the Academy. “There are still a lot of disciplinary problems at the junior high level, but no one’s discussed that tonight.”

It is still undecided if the grades will be moved out of the Academy and into the junior high. All of the amendments voted on and decided Tuesday will now have to be approved by the board when it votes on the final budget in its entirety.

There was also no decision on whether to continue with substitute teacher bonus incentives, and the debate of buying new Mac computers has been moved to the August agenda. 

It was because of disagreements like this, and the pressure of jobs and beneficial programs hanging in the balance, that the final budget of $82,616,426 was voted against, 4 to 3. It is still unknown whether the amendments voted on will hold up when the new final budget is agreed upon.  

“I’m disappointed in this board,” President Marilyn Messina said before calling a recess. “I’ve made concessions and I’m not seeing that here tonight.”

The board will reconvene on Monday, June 27 at 7 p.m. to hold the final vote, just three days before its deadline.