By Mikaela STONE

Two years – that is how much time the Glendale Unified School District (GUSD) board has before the district runs out of money if changes are not made. The current school board members inherited a difficult situation, including $14 million in expenditure reductions necessary and teachers working under a contract that expired one year and four months ago. In what members described as the least harmful decision in a set of bad options, the GUSD board voted to remove seventh period from the schools that adopted the schedule using one time COVID relief funds.

The Oct. 8 school board meeting featured an explanation of a fiscal health and risk analysis report by independent state funded agency Financial Crisis and Management Assessment Team (FCMAT). The GUSD first requested the assessment in August. FCMAT conducted interviews, collected data and reviewed documents to find that the GUSD is at high risk of “insolvency.” While attendance and enrollment are high, internal issues came to light. Because certain funds are earmarked for certain uses, the GUSD must work with the smaller unrestricted fund pool. FCMAT reported the GUSD has a history of using unrestricted funds in places where restricted funds could be used. Funds earmarked for arts and music went unspent. The agency found multiple instances where one time funds were spent on ongoing expenses with no plan to replace the revenue once the fund ran out. 

Despite paying teachers less than Los Angeles County average, the GUSD spends a higher percentage of total money on wages and benefits for employees, including not only teachers but administration, office workers and service staff. The assessment found a lack of checks and balances for overseers of decision making, discrepancies found in salaries versus benefits received and uncertainty regarding the exact number of full time employees.

The GUSD is currently in violation of the law concerning public disclosure of activities. The school board hopes that a budget committee made up of all stakeholders will provide the opportunity to not only make decisions democratically but inform the public of decisions. Many parents felt blindsided by the decision to remove seventh period when they found out about it not from the district but from teachers during back to school night.

The district has already taken steps to alleviate the spending problem. The district calculates that $2.9 million will be returned to circulation through staff retirements over the next two years, reducing necessary expenditure trims to $11 million. This figure does not include the collective bargaining necessary to settle contracts with labor partners.

Interim Chief Business Officer Deborah Deal hopes to implement new changes before the end of October, noting “the sooner we make adjustments, the faster we recover.” 

Parents and teachers have voiced their worry that cutting seventh period is not the proper adjustment to make. No one on the board disputed that a seventh period improved the quality of life and academics, as Clark Magnet High School was founded with seven periods and remains the highest ranked school in the GUSD. 

These disagreements come down to what is best for the budget.

During the meeting, parents Deborah Pasachoff, whose credentials include a Master of Business Administration degree from MIT Sloan and experience including finance for Fortune 500 companies, and Certified Public Accountant Karine Ghazarian, said they and other parents with similar expertise could help the GUSD get back on its feet without cutting seventh period if given time with the budget. They fear the loss of the seventh period will cause more harm than good and volunteer their services for free.

Parent Elizabeth Z. said, “You don’t have to lose that many students to wipe out any gains from cutting seventh period.”

The three mothers pointed to the increase in enrollment GUSD celebrated this year, overcoming the downwards enrollment trend the rest of LA County experienced post COVID. GUSD competes with local private schools, all of whom boast a seven period day.

They also questioned whether an increased daily course load and homework and less fun social time would cause students to take more mental health days or even truancies, decreasing daily attendance further.

The GUSD board ultimately acted with concern for the district being taken over by the state should they run out of money, as districts in Inglewood and San Francisco experienced.

“We can’t teach students who aren’t here,” board clerk Kathleen Cross said before vowing to fight to bring back seventh period in a “timely manner” once the crisis was averted.

Unfortunately, staffing cuts will be necessary regardless of seventh period’s fate to keep up with expenditure reduction necessities. Parents hope these cuts will come “as far away from the classroom as possible.” 

To learn from current cash flow issue the district is now looking monthly at enrollment and attendance by school site so that they can learn from increases and decreases. Even excused absences mean no revenue for the school from the state, while tardies or partial days still allow for pay.

“We want you to come in even if it’s for one period,” said Cross. The GUSD currently stands at 116 students over the projected enrollment this year. With careful planning, the district believes financial ruin can be averted.

“We as a society need to prioritize public education,” board member Ingrid Gunnel added. “Because until we do that, it won’t matter who is on the dais.” 

The budgeting concerns overshadowed Filipino American Heritage month, recognized by the student run Filipino clubs of Glendale High School and Crescenta Valley High School.

Multiple leaders within both clubs immigrated to America from the Philippines and used the club to find a community that understood them. Just over four percent of the GUSD student population is Filipino. Everyone, regardless of race, is welcome to attend club meetings and celebrate Filipino culture. Sharing food is a large facet of culture, and the clubs offer potlucks to enjoy the bounty of Pinoy heritage. The club leaders hope that members will notice both cultural similarities and differences. The Glendale High School Filipino club plans to spend this year fundraising for a SoCal Filipino charity such as the Southern California Pilipinx-American Student Alliance or the Filipino Migrant center, to be determined by student choice.