The Harwood Unified Union School District Board (HUUSD) is planning two budget meetings for public input and questions next month. Those meetings take place on December 5 at the Crossett Brook Middle School cafeteria and on December 10 via Zoom. Both meetings are from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
The HUUSD board is meeting on November 20 as The Valley Reporter goes to press, and budgeting is on the agenda at that meeting as well. The board recently asked community members to respond to a survey about this year’s budgeting and budget priorities. That survey closed this week and members of the HUUSD finance committee will be discussing survey results with the board at this week’s meeting.
A preliminary look at the survey results, compiled by finance committee and board member Bobbi Rood, Warren, summarizes the 185 responses received. The survey asked about staffing, class size, bussing, and transportation and more. Of the 185 responses. 78% of respondents have or have had or will have district students, 22% are taxpayers, 16% are HUUSD employees, 4% are former students and 14% in another category.
In her summary, Rood wrote that there was very strong support for consolidation and consolidation in the middle schools in particular, with roughly 10:1 in favor.
“About 75% of respondents were in favor of increased class size if it leads to lower per pupil costs. As expected, the open-ended responses regarding priorities were varied and will be listed later in this summary by category. Overall, respondents indicated an interest in preserving equity while also cutting costs. While there is interest in fundraising efforts for co-curricular activities, the general feeling is that public education is for all, regardless of family earnings and to be careful of offering solutions that might lead to favoritism and discrimination, particularly in school sports and transportation to games. Several wanted to know what type of savings the cuts would reflect and wanted consideration to be given to that when making decisions about programs to cut. Following is a list of questions pertaining to priorities and cuts,” she noted.
In terms of educational priorities, survey respondents favored core courses, focus on STEM courses, keeping/expanding AP courses, arts/theater programs, sports, interventionists, science, literacy, civic engagement. There was strong support for building maintenance and athletics. Many respondents cited administrative and staff ratios to pupils, class size, central office costs as areas of concern. There was support for increasing class sizes but only if it can be shown to save money.
Survey questions included those asking about having parents/guardians cover sports and other co-curricular scosts on a needs basis. There was general support for the idea, but also some confusion about what that meant. There was also support for seeking local sponsorships for sports and co-curricular activities.
Other comments or suggestions for cutting costs or raising funds for the school district included the following:
Create separate school for SpEd services
Cut sports until test scores improve
Reduce Administration/Staff
Consolidate bus routes with low ridership
Stop adding new sports
Less far away games
Fewer games
Cut administrative staff
Consolidate and close facilities
Consolidation should take priority over cutting teachers/programs
Partner with energy providers to construct a large solar field over the Harwood parking lot
Close schools and turn them into affordable housing
Rent out space in the schools for community/adult activities
Increase Booster Club activities
Go remote one day/week to save on bussing
Consolidate school districts
Get parent volunteers in the school
