It is known that public schools do not have much funding. This gets even trickier in an expensive state like California, especially in the Bay. Yet recently, schools have seemed to be having even more budget issues than before. And MUSD is not immune to these budget reductions either. Some staff members at Alhambra High School have seen proposals stating that their hours be cut to save money. People who are detrimental to the functioning of this school, like Mrs. Collins, the college and career specialist, as well as custodians and groundkeepers, have been selected for time reductions. These reductions in hours have been proposed by Andy Cannon, the chief business official. Of course, saving money for school is a good thing. Yet, reducing Mrs. Collins’s hours and the custodians is a bad decision. Mrs. Collins is an extremely busy woman who does not always have time for every student. She works the hours she has and does her very best to assist all the students, and she’s amazing at her job. Now that school has entered the second semester, many upperclassmen need help preparing for the next year, and Mrs. Collins is there to help, yet if her hours are reduced, many kids cannot get the help they need promptly. Not to mention the custodian’s hours being cut, meaning they will have a lot less time to clean and sanitize the school. If it is not noticeable, AHS is already not that clean. Imagine how many ketchup packets are going to be scattered around campus without sweeping and how wet the bathroom floor will be without drying. It could not only be a safety hazard but a health hazard. And MUSD is not the only district facing cuts. Hayward Unified, Fremont Unified, San Jose Unified, Oakland Unified, Berkeley Unified, and others are all facing some sort of budget cuts. Many of these districts are considering cutting programs and merging schools, while few are considering fully closing schools. It seems throughout all of these schools, there is one main reason for the budget cuts, and that’s declining student enrollment rates. In California, schools are funded based on daily attendance rates. So if fewer students are enrolling, that means fewer students are attending, so schools are losing money. The main reason for the declining enrollment rate is that the Bay Area is expensive, and people don’t want to have children here anymore. It also does not help that the US’s fertility rate is extremely low. So far, not much can be done to reduce the funding deficits, but people are trying to work around it and make education available to Bay Area students.
Sources:
https://www.ktvu.com/news/least-3-bay-area-school-districts-meeting-over-massive-budget-shortfalls
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LMZp_VgwhXgnHlqfqzGDmdBbSC6S2fnr–RKoTb6Eys/edit?tab=t.0