The Cupertino Courier

Opponents say 95-5 hurts small districts

By Steve Enders

Despite statewide polls that show voters are generally in favor of the "Educational Efficiency Initiative," local school districts are beginning to voice opposition to it.

Cupertino and Sunnyvale school district trustees have passed resolutions in the last month stating their condemnation of the initiative. The Fremont Union High School District hasn't passed a resolution yet, but officials aren't bashful about saying that they don't want the initiative, Prop. 223, to pass.

The proposition mandates that 95 percent of all school district moneys be spent on school programs that have direct involvement with students and that no more than 5 percent be spent on administrative costs. Because of this ratio, the proposition has garnered the nickname "the 95-5 initiative."

It further proposes that school districts, starting in 1999, hire independent auditors to check district spending each year and report it to the state Board of Education. If a district doesn't comply with the 95-5 split, it can be fined up to $200 per student each year that it's not in compliance.

Most small- and medium-sized school districts are opposed to the proposal because they believe they'll have a hard time cutting and shifting administrative duties. Since these districts don't have large numbers of employees to handle administrative work, principals could end up having to handle things like payroll and curriculum development to meet the ratio.

Small districts also complain that the proposition isn't specific enough in defining what services are considered to be in direct contact with students.

The initiative was proposed by Tyrone Vahedi, the head of Children's Rights 2000, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles. Arguments in favor of the proposition say that children become the priority under the bill and that schools would gain $500 million a year under the percentage shift.

Currently, districts throughout the state spend an average of about 7 percent of their budgets on administrative functions. The districts in the cities of Cupertino and Sunnyvale spend between 6 and 8 percent.

Sunnyvale School District Superintendent Dr. Joe Rudnicki said that "it would be absolutely difficult" to cut administrative costs to 5 percent.

"There's a common misperception that there's a bureaucratic bloat in school districts," he added.

Rudnicki said that his district would have a hard time because, in many cases, one person is responsible for handling several different duties.

If the Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Fremont Union High School districts can't comply, they stand to lose more than $1 million each, according to district officials.

"Over the past three to four years, we've made over a million dollars in cuts. We're bare bones now," FUHSD assistant superintendent Mike Hawkes said. "There's a feeling in the district that we have administration overkill. We're not district top-heavy."

The state PTA, the Association of California School Administrators, the state teachers association and the state School Employees Association all oppose the initiative.

They're calling the proposal a "one size fits all" approach that won't work for most districts. In many small districts in the state, administrators are also principals and teachers. With less money being spent on administrative costs, there will actually be less accountability and not more, they say.

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