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Salinas Readies For Exodus Of Students: Eighteen of County's 24 School Districts See Declining Enrollments

Posted on: Friday, 12 May 2006, 09:07 CDT

By Claudia Mel, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

May 12--Because of the cost of living and the recent loss of major employers, Salinas schools could lose more than 700 students in the upcoming school year.

And the trend could continue for at least three years.

Those were the major conclusions arrived at by school administrators at a rare joint meeting of boards of trustees of six school districts: Salinas Union High, Alisal Union, Salinas City Elementary, Santa Rita, Washington Union and Spreckels Union.

Eighteen of the county's 24 school districts are losing students, which results in decreased state funding that can't be recouped simply by not hiring teachers, administrators said.

"This could be a pretty serious issue," said outgoing county Superintendent of Schools Bill Barr, who moderated the meeting. "Declining revenues and fixed expenses are not necessarily attached to the kid's attendance."

Enrollment has declined more precipitously at some districts than in others. The Salinas City Elementary district lost 1,300 students since 2001, the equivalent of 14 percent of its population.

To counter the problem, administrators in some districts have put the brakes on intra-district transfers to avoid losing more students.

Declining enrollment was not the only topic at the meeting, held at the Boronda Meadows Elementary School. Administrators made a presentation on student achievement in the six districts, which educate more than 36,000 children altogether.

While all districts continue to improve their state Academic Performance Index scores, several officials expressed concern that the federal mandates do not take into account the diversity of California's student population. Special groups at most districts, such as English learners and special education students, are not making sufficient progress on the federal benchmark known as Adequate Yearly Progress.

The group heard a disaster preparedness presentation by Devorah Duncan, an English teacher who volunteered to help develop the plan. The plan includes mutual aid agreements to assist schools in case of emergencies.

"It's not a case of 'will it happen,' it's just a matter of when will it happen," said Barr. The plan is scheduled to be adopted by all of the districts, Duncan said.

One major hurdle revealed by Duncan is that not all schools have an established point of contact in their cities -- a kind of go-to person when disaster strikes.

Salinas did away with its emergency center because of budget cuts, she was told. And at the Monterey County Office of Emergency Services, she was told she couldn't have a direct contact but had to go through the city.

"I'd really like to suggest to recreate the emergency center in Salinas and create a position of coordinator," she said.

Claudia Melendez Salinas can be reached at 753-6755 or cmelendez@montereyherald.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Monterey County Herald (Monterey, Calif.)

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