The Cupertino Courier

Schools brace for 95/5

By Justin Berton

More than 40 parents, teachers and administrators from the Sunnyvale Elementary School District held a meeting May 19 to discuss the expected doomsday effects that Proposition 223--also known as "95/5"--will have on Sunnyvale students if voters pass the initiative on the June 2 ballot.

The initiative calls for all school districts in California to spend a maximum of 5 percent of their annual budgets on administrative costs. The rest will be earmarked for programs that have direct involvement with students.

Administrative costs account for 8.25 percent of the SESD's current budget, a figure officials said they could not bring down without slashing jobs and converting principals into administrative officers--a job title that would keep them out of classrooms.

Ellis Elementary principal Christine Muzik expressed the consensus at the meeting when she said, "Education as we know it will diminish and deteriorate to such a degree, it won't even be recognizable."

Officials said students would see a disparity in the quality of schools in the district. If schools fend for themselves to keep administrative costs below 5 percent, each school would be forced to buy different books and supplies.

Don Jolly, the director of special education for the district, said school administrators would no longer have to be well-trained specialists.

"The specialists would be spread too thin," Jolly said. "I don't know of any private industry that works efficiently that way," he added.

Initiative proponents say the strict budget guidelines will keep districts that practice sloppy bookkeeping in check.

A group of Proposition 223 backers, led by state Sen. Dianne Feinstein, argue that the 5 percent is an achievable goal for all of the 1,000 school districts in California.

For those districts that don't comply with the 95/5 guidelines, heavy penalties and fines would be levied until the standards were met.

Those fines would be handed over to districts that do comply, such as the Los Angeles Unified School District, where the proposition is sponsored by the teachers' union.

According to the initiative, the district could use revenues to increase teachers' salaries.

"Let's be clear about what this is really about--teachers in L.A. want more money," parent Bob Greene said.

According to the independent office of the legislative analyst, 95 percent of the state's school districts operate above the 5 percent that would be mandated by Prop. 223.

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