Budgets and Finances Discussed by Banning School Board Candidates

Budgets and finance concerns were addressed by candidates the Banning Unified School District board at a forum earlier this week in Banning.

The seven hopefuls, Alfredo Andrade, Alex Cassadas, Ray Curtis, Deborah Dukes, Larry Ellis, Maxine Israel, and David Vanden Heuvel, are running for three seats on the district board in the Nov. 8 election.

The forum Sunday afternoon at First Missionary Baptist Church was moderated by Banning teacher Troy Sheldon.

Sheldon asked the candidates a total of seven questions or prompts. For reports on the first five prompts and candidates' responses, click , , , and , or see the sidebar to the right of this report for links.

The sixth prompt Sunday was "What do you believe will happen with funding for our schools in the next few years, and how do you suggest our district deals with it?"

Dukes, an incumbent Banning Unified School District board member and its current president, was selected to respond first:

"I don't see it getting any better in the next 20 years, until our kids that we have now are parents. And we have new legislators.

"California is, they don't have our students as a priority. They're taking more and more money from us. Over the last two years we have lost seventeen million dollars in funding from the state.

"That is why we've had to reduce our budgets by almost five million dollars. Also, they are deferring funds to us. In the past two years alone they have deferred eleven million dollars.

"Until we become a district that is growing, we're going to keep having hard times. Because we are a declining district, and as one knows, when you're a growing district, or growing enrollment, you will have more money.

"So people talk about a personal . . . center in the budget, those are mandated costs. . . . We have to spend that money. And some of that money cannot be spent . . . here in Banning.

"We have schools that are program inclusive that are mandated costs. We have to have, go outside the city of Banning, the district of Banning . . .

"So there's a lot of things once you get on the school board and when you're familiar with all this, you will learn that a lot of costs we have to incur because the state mandates it.

"And hopefully if Banning starts to grow again, our ADA will improve and we will be growing enrollment. Because as you remember six, seven years ago, we bought all this equipment, hired all these teachers, thinking we were going to have enrollment.

"We did not have the enrollment, therefore we were in a declining budget. So there's a lot of things that we have no control over. Yes there is some spending that we can control, and we are doing our best to control it."

Cassadas, a child care worker, responded:

"I know that in the next few years, we're going to be a different economy. Right now with the pending legislation that's been on there . . . it's hard to tell how we're going to be doing over the next few years.

"But I can see that when you have a positive attitude about something, most likely you're going to have a positive outcome.

"When you look at a thing negatively, saying well we probably aren't going to improve over the next 20 years, I don't believe in that.

"I believe that when you think positively, reading on the budget, like I said earlier, we can make strides for positive outcomes within the district.

"One of the things that was brought up was that we never have our attendance. How can we bring up attendance? One of them was just bring a positive atmosphere, taking pride in our community.

"Focus on the little things that go along the way. It was Mr. Bailey who came up to a school board meeting a couple weeks ago and said, 'If we just got our attendance up three percent we could have made two-point-four million dollars we'd have gotten from the state.

"Why don't we harvest these ideas? I know it's hard sometimes . . . but it's not hard. . . . We need to be proactive . . .

"What I would say for the next few years, we're going to meet our promises, keep our campaign promises made . . . we have a fresh new perspective that hopefully you will vote me in as well and we will a bring fresh, new positive outcome.

"I've been a member of this community for a long time. I understand what it's like to be a student. I know what it's like for the teachers and the class size and the struggle, and if we start working together, even though it's an idea, but an idea goes a long way. . . .

"We need to watch for these ideas, we need fund these ideas, and we need to promote these ideas, along with the city of Banning, because right now . . . the people who do matter, are the ones who vote for us in the future. Thank you."

Vanden Heuvel, a retired teacher, responded:

"Yes, I see a bad situation as far as the next few years. I think if Obama and a Democratic congress can . . . our schools, we'll have a lot more money . . .

"Money is paid per student. It doesn't matter if you've got a thousand or ten thousand, you get ADA per student.

"If we're in declining enrollment it doesn't mean our schools have to suck. It just means we get the same amount of money per school, per student, as the fastest-growing district in the state. They get the same dollars per student.

"The way to do it is to change the starting times. It'll improve ADA that three percent. It sounds silly but studies have shown, it's all from Minnesota, Philadelphia, all around the country. Later starting times.

"It's time to change the people running the show in Banning. Try something new. A lot of what's going on is good, we can continue it. But we need change at the top. . . .

"I've heard a lot of people talk about what improves communications. Well, if we could just communicate, it wouldn't be a problem now. To say we need communications doesn't tell us how to do that.

"Get everybody to talk together. You know, sing Kumbaya. That's not going to solve anything, unless people actually do it. And as long as you're singing Kumbaya while this guy's taking notes on you, and your job's threatened, you know, you can't do it.

"So I forget what the question was, but . . . money. Yeah. So I'm with Coolio, money and power. Minute after minute, hour after hour. The thing about Coolio to remember is he says, 'I'm 23 now. Will I live to be 24? The way things are goin' I don't know.'

"And the people in this room have lost people before they were 24. Sometimes, this all, whatever happens, with or without education. Ok, I'm done."

Ellis, a retired science teacher, responded:

"Yeah, I don't see our economy turning around any time soon. And that's one of the reason I want to really look seriously at our graduation requirements. But that's not part of this question.

"Ok, money coming through the schools is going to be decreasing. Again, it's going to require everyone working together and we have to go in the same direction, and when we talk about the budget, everyone has to see every aspect of the budget.

"Not pieces held out or whatever, or sacred cows that we can't touch and so forth. Everything has to be open, and everyone had to get in there and share the pain. We can't have one group of people being overpaid and the other group of people being underpaid.

"That's where communications break down. That's where the respect breaks down, because you know you look at the Wall Street bankers and you look at people who are losing their homes. There's no respect there. And for obvious reasons.

"We need to avoid that. We need to be in there together looking at the budget and we're going to have all make sacrifices, not just one aspect of the Banning Unified School District.

"And we have to do it with the idea that what we do is going to be best for the students. Thank you."

Andrade, a "para educator" or paraprofessional school employee, responded:

"Funding schools in the district . . . I don't see a turnaround in the next few years. How do we handle it here in Banning? Well we have to be proactive instead of reactive.

"We can be reacting to the budget crisis. We have to look out . . .  and bring in programs that are going to create money for the district. . . . . Such as the . . . program . . . that has brought thousands of dollars into the school district.

"We have to look at other districts and see what's working for them. . . . What are they doing that we are not? We need programs. Work programs for the students. That will give students incentive to come to work, I mean to come to school.

"And then how do we get enrollment to go up in a declining district? Well, if we're one of the biggest employers in the city of Banning, and we're losing jobs, a lot of families are moving out.

"So we need to go to our staff, to our teachers and create jobs within. What can we do with our staff? What can we keep in house, to save money and create jobs, to keep the community intact and grow this great city of Banning."

Israel, a parent, responded:

"I think our bdget situation is really, really good . . . I'm not one to sit back and just let it slide. You look at the budget we already have. There's over a hundred thousand dollars that's being spent unnecessarily.

"Twelve thousands dollars being spent, unnecessarily. Six thousand dollars being spent, unnecessarily. . . .

"You don't sit back and just wait for something to happen, and take it as it comes to you. It don't work that way.

"Keeping our kids in focus is not sitting back and letting it happen. Thank you."

Curtis, a retired administrator, responded:

"Well Banning has a positive attitude, I think there's more interest in the kids and the glass is always half full.

"But basically we all know that they pay more for prisons than they do for schools.

"We're 47th, 48th, maybe we're last as far as funding. We need to deal with that. We were dealt that hand, let's deal with it, ok. How do we deal that?

"I think the first step is you have to have the interested parties together. . . . And you have to have genuine communication. And honestly sit down and have a discussion with interests of kids. That's been stated.

"The other thing I would like to do, is I've already taken a look at the budget, and there's some items out there that we can negotiate with. For instance, legal fees. They're ridiculous. Ok, they're necessary because of all the protacting that's been going on. But if we eliminate that, we're going to save some money for kids.

"Also, I have done work, I've  worked in my six districts with six different plus law firms, and they have you know, they need to make a living. And we're not just stuck with that. . . .

"That's one of the first things I would take a look at. 'Talk to me there lawyers. Give me a better price.' You take your last three years, you say 'This is our average, I'm not paying you any more. Take it or leave it.' You save hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"Cost containment. I drive by at night here . . . and I see buildings up. We're paying for air conditioning, paying for lights. Nobody's in there. Why? We need to take a look at cost containment.

"You know who you ask? You ask the custodians. You ask the people that work there. 'How can we save a buck?'

"And they're going to tell you, 'I'd like to offer some suggestions.' A hundred dollars. Five hundred bucks. A trip to Starbucks if you give us a way to save some money. All organizations do that. They involve their stakeholders.

"And you know what? We can fix some of this. And first of all, if I'm on the board, our legal fees will go down. Thank you very much."

The California School Employees Association, the classified school employees union that represents more than 210,000 school support staff in California, has endorsed Andrade, Cassadas and Curtis.

The Banning Teachers Association, the union that represents more than 200 teachers in the Banning Unified School District, has endorsed Cassadas, Curtis, and Ellis.

Banning Unified School District serves about 5,000 students in a 300-square-mile area, from kindergarten through 12th grade, according to the district's web site.

The district includes four elementary schools, two middle schools, one comprehensive high school, and one continuation high school.

Banning Unified is one of the largest employers in the San Gorgonio Pass, with about 450 employees.

The revised district budget as of Sept. 2, 2011, was between $35 million and $37 million, which included total projected revenues of $35,005,383, total projected expenditures of $36,717,196, and a deficit of $1,711,813, according to board meeting minutes.

Stay with Banning-Beaumont Patch this weekend for more from the candidates' Oct. 16 forum at .

The next scheduled forum starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at , 1335 W. Ramsey St., Banning.

The to register to vote in the Nov. 8 election is 5 p.m. Monday Oct. 24.