Alameda County voters who care concerning the monetary solvency of their native faculty districts ought to reelect L.Okay. Monroe as county superintendent of colleges.
The selection is between Monroe, who has admirably carried out the pressure-cooker duty of presenting the unvarnished reality concerning the funds of the county’s 18 faculty districts, and Alysse Castro, a teacher-union-backed candidate who has falsely claimed that the county superintendent triggered Oakland’s controversial faculty closures.
For public training within the county, the stakes couldn’t be greater. The county superintendent of colleges is the backstop in opposition to fiscal recklessness. With out trustworthy, impartial oversight of funds, extra districts will ultimately teeter getting ready to chapter, resulting in classroom cuts and a decline within the high quality of training.
Monroe is the one candidate within the June 7 election who will present that vital impartial oversight. She has earned one other time period.
As administrator of the county Workplace of Training, the superintendent can be liable for education for teen moms and college students within the juvenile justice system, instructor coaching packages, and curriculum growth and expertise help for districts.
However it’s the duty of reviewing the funds of native faculty districts — and sounding alarms when one is heading for a monetary cliff or unrealistically forecasting its price range numbers — that attracts essentially the most focus.
Not surprisingly, the superintendent can come below political assault for being the bearer of unhealthy fiscal information. Nevertheless, blaming the messenger won't resolve the underlying issues.
The Oakland story
The story of what occurred in Oakland is vital for understanding why Monroe deserves one other time period, and Castro’s irresponsible and inaccurate spin ought to eradicate her from voter consideration.
It’s a narrative that might repeat in any financially struggling district in Alameda County. At present, Monroe can be involved concerning the shaky funds of the San Lorenzo and Hayward faculty districts, in addition to two others that she is watching however not prepared to call.
Probably the most politically charged case has been Oakland. After that district almost went bankrupt in 2017, state lawmakers promised annual $10 million bailouts if Oakland trustees made progress on stabilizing their funds.
As a part of the bailout deal, the Legislature directed Monroe to take “all actions which are essential to make sure that the college district meets its monetary obligations.” One possibility listed was faculty consolidations.
However it was in the end as much as Oakland faculty board trustees, in the event that they needed to proceed receiving the additional cash, to consolidate faculties or discover different value financial savings.
That modified In June 2021 when the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom made the annual bailout contingent on “well timed implementation of” faculty consolidations. Closures had been not elective for Oakland; they had been required.
With good purpose. Whereas faculty closures had been solely part of the wanted price range financial savings, they had been vital and long-overdue. The typical enrollment of Oakland faculties is the bottom of California’s 50 largest districts. Retaining small faculties creates wasteful administrative and upkeep prices, siphoning cash that may very well be higher utilized in school rooms.
Then, in November, Monroe supplied a monetary evaluation that confirmed Oakland may not meet its monetary obligations for the present and subsequent fiscal years — and was in peril of shedding its annual state bailout cost as a result of it was not progressing on rightsizing its funds.
Monroe referred to as on the state’s Fiscal Disaster and Administration Help Workforce, which had been concerned for years, for extra help. In January, the disaster staff reported that the district had a structural price range shortfall of greater than $60 million yearly and may not qualify for the annual bailout as a result of it had no faculty closure plan.
These warnings lastly spurred the district board to behave, with main price range cuts and the closure, merger or shrinking of 11 faculties.
Political spin
All through this drama, it’s essential to notice that Monroe didn't require the college closures. She didn’t have the authority to take action even when she had needed to. The college closures had been mandated by the state and applied by the Oakland faculty board.
Nonetheless, Castro, who oversees various faculty packages for the San Francisco Workplace of Training, has blamed Monroe and used the ordeal as political fodder.
In an electronic mail final week, reiterating the essence of feedback in an earlier interview, Castro wrote that “by opting to name in (the state disaster staff) in November, which she ought to have recognized would insist on faculty closures, Monroe triggered faculty closures which weren't essential mid-pandemic.”
What Castro’s spin ignored was that Monroe was mandated by the Legislature to make sure the college district met its monetary obligations, that the disaster staff had been actively concerned for the reason that bailouts started, and that it was neither Monroe nor the disaster staff that required the college closures. It was the Legislature.
Monroe’s job was to current the unvarnished reality to Oakland about its funds and to make sure that the district discovered a technique to pay its payments — and she or he did that admirably.
L.Okay. Monroe has demonstrated that, no matter district is concerned, she is going to professionally carry out her duties. She deserves one other time period as Alameda County superintendent of colleges.