Chesbro fights school cuts

Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro drafted a letter to Brown co-signed by 11 other legislators stating the action would adversely affect low-income students in rural, remote areas.

“We strongly urge you to reconsider this specific devastating cut which unfairly impacts our low-income and rural students in our state, and direct your staff to provide you with a different option, one that is more equitable and fair,” the letter states.

The elimination of home-to-school transportation for school districts was one of the cuts triggered by Brown when the state’s revenues failed to meet projections.

For Del Norte County schools, this is an estimated cut of $363,000 to transportation funding. There’s also a small cut of about $15 per student, totaling about $50,000.

However, Del Norte County Unified School District had a contingency plan in place if the governor imposed mid-year cuts, and busing for students will not be affected.

The School Board had set aside $760,000, and there were two furlough days scheduled this semester for teachers, managers and principals. Some classified positions had also been cut.

The school district has not yet heard from the California Department of Education on what exactly the financial impact will be to Del Norte, said Deputy Superintendent Rodney Jahn. But, if it’s close to $400,000, the reserve set aside by the board will cover the shortfall, he said, and the two furlough days will be returned to employees.

But in other parts of the North Coast, school districts will no longer have funding to keep buses running — this has been especially hard in places like in southern Humboldt County where students live in far-flung locations not unlike Del Norte.

“It’s completely unfair to single out those districts with students who live far from school that depend on school transportation,” Chesbro said. “What we’re seeking to do is equalize those cuts and spread them out to all students in the state — that’s only fair.

Assembly District 1, the North Coast, was hit particularly hard due to its rural landscape, Chesbro said, adding in some cases, kids will not be able to go to school or will be home-schooled without transportation. Without busing, working parents may be inconvenienced having to drop off their kids at school, he said.

Chesbro said there is a legislation proposal he supports that will restore $248 million for school transportation and reduce all schools districts’ funding based on student attendance.

“It will spread the pain much more evenly and allow districts to make cuts in the least harmful way at the local level,” he said.

If this happens, the cut to Del Norte schools will likely be less severe, Jahn said. It’s estimated to be a $60 cut to per-student funding, totaling $200,000 to the school district, he said, which reserves will be able to cover.

Chesbro said he’s optimistic that California’s revenue is gradually increasing and the governor will be successful with a ballot measure raising taxes on the wealthy in order to avoid more severe cuts to education and social services.

“Our voters deserve to have the ultimate say” he said about raising taxes.

Assembly members Luis Alejo, Michael Allen, Betsy Butler, Paul Fong, Alyson Huber, Jared Huffman, Bill Monning, Kristin Olsen, Henry Perea and Mariko Yamada and State Sen. Noreen Evans co-signed the letter.

Reach Kelley Atherton at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it