By Ask Marge
Editor’s note: Marge Gratiot, superintendent of the Los Altos School District, answers questions about the district in this periodic column. If you would like to forward a question, write to the Town Crier at 138 Main St., 94022 or e-mail editor Bruce Barton at bruceb@latc.com with your question for Marge.
Q: The district’s budget woes thanks to the state are well documented. Are you aware of any lobbying efforts to alter the funding formula so that the state can offer more support?
A: Many of us in the district work actively to change the state’s funding formulas. Our school board members work through the school board association, I work through the State Superintendents’ Committee (ACSA), and many of our PTA members and teachers are very involved in legislative action. Our local assemblyman, Joe Simitian, is very supportive of changes in the funding formula and keeps me up to date on what happens in Sacramento.
I think the emphasis on the formula itself is misplaced. Although Los Altos is funded slightly lower than other districts, the main problem is that there is not enough money statewide to offer all children a high-quality education.
The disparities in funding we see here in the Bay Area are because most other high-performing districts (Palo Alto, Las Lomitas, Saratoga, Piedmont, Hillsborough) have a high enough property tax base to be exempt from state funding formulas and are able to keep all of their property tax money locally.
There are only a few districts in the entire state that fall into that category, and most of them are in the Bay Area. Los Altos does not yet fall into that category, although it is possible that we will within a few years, as housing turnovers increase our total assessed valuation.
In order to offer the same quality of education as those other high-performing districts, we need to make up the difference with a local parcel tax.
Q: What do you think of combination classes - combining two different grades together, such as kindergarten/first grade, etc.?
A: Under ideal circumstances, a combination class can be very successful. It should have a relatively small size, a fairly even distribution of the two grade levels, a flexible teacher, an instructional aide, and a hand-picked group of students who are able to work independently for periods of time by themselves.
Combination classes are more difficult to teach now than they used to be, because the state curriculum standards are very tied to specific grade levels, so the teacher either has to teach two levels of some subjects or do teaming with other teachers to ensure that her students get the full curriculum.
Q: We’ve heard of another go at a parcel tax increase proposal this November. Will the amount be the same as in April or will it likely be more?
A: I am anticipating that a parcel tax increase will be on the ballot in November. The board will decide the amount at their July 22 meeting.
Q: It seems the senior parcel tax exemption isn’t fair solely based on age. There are a lot of affluent seniors, I bet, taking advantage of the exemption. Is there any consideration to establishing an income limit as well?
A: We are not allowed by law to have an exemption based on ability to pay. A senior exemption is a specific (and the only) - exclusion in the law. Many of our seniors, although their homes are worth a lot, are on fixed incomes and would find the parcel tax a burden. Many do not take the exemption.
Most of the senior citizens in town are very supportive of the schools and proud of our results, whether they take the exemption or not.
Q: What do you think of the current STAR test? Is it an accurate barometer of academic achievement?
A: The STAR test has changed every year, adding questions that are directly related to state content standards. As it changes, it becomes a more accurate barometer of what children actually have learned and less a measure of their cognitive abilities.
It is also incorporating more performance-based items. For instance, this year a student writing sample will be part of the scoring.
Evaluating an actual written composition by a student is preferable to another page of multiple-choice items.
Q: The district has listed improving communications as one of its top goals for 2002-03. In what ways have you addressed this, and what do you have in the works?
A: I am still trying to develop a plan for next year. This is an area where the district has devoted very few resources. We do one communitywide mailing each year (the Measure A Report Card) that usually gets a very positive response. That costs us about $10,000, so one mailing is all we can afford.
Other than that, we rely on the local press, primarily the Town Crier, to keep our community informed.
Communicating with parents should be easy, but it certainly wasn’t successful enough this year. I’m still blown away by the parent who thought we were trying to hide the fact that we were having an election last spring. If she had read even half of the information that came home with her child every week, she would have known full well what was going on.
A few years ago, after every board meeting, a summary of actions taken and topics discussed went home to all the parents.
When we did a survey at the end of the year, it turned out that very few parents read it because it was “boring.” (Just try to make a regular board meeting sound exciting!)
So the next year I switched to a more friendly format - a quarterly newsletter with pictures, etc. More people read it, but it was hard to make it timely. I enjoyed doing it, having been a journalism major in college, but it took an unreasonable amount of time. And we certainly can’t afford to hire a publicist.
I am very open to suggestions for communications for next year. One of the things we will seek professional help on is a piece that explains school finance briefly and understandably.
An exciting opportunity for press coverage will come when our three newly renovated schools go online in August.
