Schools

School Board Discusses Budget Cuts, Including Slicing Popular Reading Program

Pleasanton schools could lose from $150,000 to $5.5 million depending on what happens with the state budget.

Concerned residents protested cuts to a popular reading program at a Tuesday night school board meeting, according to a Pleasanton Weekly story.

One after one, parents and educators asked Pleasanton Unified School District trustees to save the 10-year-old Barton Reading Program, which needs $106,000 to stay afloat.

It provides 10,000 hours of one-on-one tutoring per year β€” three hours per student, per week β€” using about 100 volunteer tutors at seven different Pleasanton schools. Right now, it's funded with Pleasanton Unified School District money as well as private donations (though it's not on the list of programs that Pleasanton Partnerships in Education, or PPIE, funds).

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"Once we're gone, we're not coming back," program creator Christina Clark .

"I feel like I need to make this clear."

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Read a first-person account of how the program helped one student .

Board members, who will decide on the cuts Feb. 28, encouraged the community to donate to the program, according to the Pleasanton Weekly story. Trustees Jamie Hintzke and Valerie Arkin, however, indicated they want to save the program, according to the article.

State budget reductions could cost the district anywhere from $150,000 to $5.5 million in cuts, depending on whether Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed referendum on tax increases passes in November, according to the story. The district will be forced to mail out layoff notices in case the worst happens.

PPIE fundraising drives yielded just over $300,000, according to the Weekly, and that number is down $73,000 from last year, which means there will be further cuts.


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