School is out, but not before districts take care of some business

In Alice Cooper's famed timeless words, "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks. Out for summer, out till fall, we might not come back at all."

School is out for summer.

Local schools finished last week the 2007-2008 year and closed their doors until mid-August. The students of the Class of 2008 graduated, the eighth-graders were promoted to high school and the youngest children have registered for kindergarten.

It's time for lazy days, long swims and family vacations. But school districts will remain at work, preparing to run next year on decreased funding. Below are highlights of Wednesday's Kings County Board of Education meeting:

• John Stankovich, county superintendent of public instruction, said that three board of education seats will be up for re-election this year. Those are for area No. 5, which includes most of Armona, Hanford and Lakeside school districts, and is represented by Jim Kilner; area No. 1, which includes most of Central and Island school districts, and is represented by Mickey Thayer; and area No. 2, which includes more of Corcoran and Avenal and is represented by Joe Hammond.

• Suzanne Monroe, county education administrator of curriculum services, presented to education board members a report on the District Assistance and Intervention Team, or DAIT. DAIT is a program piloted by the state in 2006-2007 for four program improvement or at-risk school districts -- including Reef-Sunset Unified School District -- that volunteered because they thought they would benefit from outside help.

Over the last two school years, experienced educators from the county office of education worked as a DAIT team with Reef-Sunset school district officials to develop plans for improvement. Through state funding, DAIT will continue work as a county-district collaborative in 2008-2009.

Results so far include implementation of literacy and math coaches, more focused teacher collaboration time, one-to-one coaching for school site principals and a nearly 15 percent increase in results on state standardized tests since 2004, Monroe said.

• Ivo Denham, internal director of county education business services, summarized Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's effects -- as of his May revise -- on the 2008-2009 budget. The county board of education then adopted the budget, a vote that all school boards will take before the end of the month on their respective district budgets.

The county office of education stands to lose 6.5 percent of its funding from the state compared to 07-08. State cuts to categorically funded programs will not be replenished by the county office of education's general fund, Denham said. The general fund budget is about $30.8 million and $750,000 will be reserved for economic uncertainties.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2424.

(June 8, 2008)