Funding issues put multi-district West County middle school on hold: Administrators hope to work out details by 2013-14

The plan to establish a multi-district West County middle school
has been put on hold due to a discrepancy in state funding
laws.
Over the summer, Forestville Union, Guerneville and West Sonoma
County Union High School districts discussed the idea of starting a
grade 7-8 middle school program that would offer enhanced
opportunities for students over and above what smaller schools can
offer.
For example, a full technology program, access to counseling, a
broader choice of elective classes, and enhanced music, arts and
physical education programs, among other things.
District projections also showed that this consolidation of
resources would be financially beneficial to each of the three
participating districts, said Sonoma County Office of Education
Superintendent Steve Herrington, who, since the idea was proposed
to him has been involved in deliberations with the other
superintendents regarding the middle school.
Meanwhile, plans to open a middle school program in fall 2012, most
likely on the Forestville campus in existing buildings, has come to
a halt due to a discrepancy over the amount of “per-student
funding” paid to school districts by the state.
The districts have examined various funding sources for the
proposed middle school. The problem lies in the complicated fact
that there is different per-student funding for elementary school
students, than for high school students, according to WSCUHSD
Superintendent Keller McDonald.
“That means that the high school district could only afford to
operate the new school if we received the high school funding
level, which is more money,” McDonald said. “But the state of
California insists that if we opened a middle school we would be
forced to blend the funding levels and not receive the full amount
(of revenue) we receive now. Because of that we could not afford to
run the school.”
Blending the revenue limit for the proposed middle school
“decreases the per-student funding for grades 7-8 and makes the
plan financially unfeasible. Neither Forestville nor Guerneville
have the resources to operate the combined middle school without
the involvement of the high school district,” Herrington
said.
The high school district is supposed to be paid about $7,100 per
high school student. However, in the current economic crisis the
district receives about $5,300 per high school student. Funding for
K-8 students is hundreds of dollars less per year, per student,
McDonald said.
Hence, with support from the SCOE the districts will now seek a
state waiver or statutory change to obtain unblended funding. They
plan to base their appeal on the fact that many secondary districts
serving 7-12 grade students are currently receiving unblended
funding.
However, McDonald is not convinced school board members would
approve a waiver on the grounds that a district is required to
reapply every year or two.
In other words, the districts could be approved for a waiver the
first year, but they risk being denied a new waiver in future
years, after the school is already open.
“The other option is to get a local legislator to author state
legislation to change or clarify the funding law. I say clarify
because we know there are high school districts in California that
operate middle schools and receive high school revenue limit for
operating middle schools,” McDonald said. “The fact that the
California Department of Education is treating our request
differently than they treat other high schools concerns me
greatly.”
“We are all disappointed in the turn this project has taken,”
Herrington said, noting all parties involved are committed to
continuing to pursue an “equitable funding plan.”
“To get kind of stone-walled, kind of road-blocked, was a bummer,”
Guerneville School Superintendent/Principal Elaine Carlson
said.
“I appreciated so much the work and the time and the exciting ideas
and the creative energy; the people willing to think about
something that might really provide some more opportunities for our
kids. Considering the way the state budget is, I think both
Guerneville and Forestville do an outstanding job; our curriculum
is top notch, yet we find we don’t have the resources to provide a
full technology program, a full PE program, or to be able to do
more with arts, music and chorus … maybe foreign languages … so
many things,” Carlson said.
Although the districts had hoped to open the middle school in fall
2012, they are now continuing the groundwork for a 2013-14
opening.