Comments on: Smith: OUSD faces an even deeper budget hole

By: harlemmoon

harlemmoon — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:36:46 +0000

Bravo, J.R.
This indeed sounds like a great start. I hope the erstwhile Board is tuning in.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:18:44 +0000

Cut all redundant positions from the very top on down then institute wage reductions for the remainder of admin staff.Increase class sizes (nominally), and switch from textbooks to workbooks as the French do(it’s much less expensive, and every child will receive what they need.Get rid of all program specialist’s, these poorly special needs mandates are a killer. Rinse and repeat until budget is balanced

By: Katy Murphy

Katy Murphy — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 22:26:16 +0000

We’ve had several discussions on this blog about the district’s need to set priorities, and what those priorities should be. I just saw this OUSD survey posted on Twitter and on the Oakland public school parents e-mail group, if you want to vote:

http://bit.ly/5yrllt

By: harlemmoon

harlemmoon — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:11:56 +0000

Keynesian economics aside, it is simply illogical not to consider ALL possible scenarios in the face of utter disaster.
Interesting that you immediately went to protecting lay offs and middle class employees. Consider that if we all scurry to seal off our bit of the landscape, then we’re right back on the sinking ground where we started. In these times, there can be no sacred cows. Indeed, they should be slaughtered.
Finally, insisting on government rescue when the government itself is claiming poverty is neither feasible nor sensible.

By: Cranky Teacher

Cranky Teacher — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:59:41 +0000

Keynesian economics, which has rebounded strongly in recent decades after the failure of the Chicago School policies internationally, would tell us that the Federal government MUST bail out California and other states facing such severe cuts (as they did to some extent last year) by borrowing money, which the states (strangely) can’t do.

It makes no sense, economically, to lay off middle-class public employees and weaken education. The former hurts the spending power of the citizenry and further weakens the tax base, which in turn leads to more layoffs, and the latter hurts long-term economic competitiveness in a global economy.

People should oppose these cuts not (just) on the basis of morality but on a clear-headed understanding of the government’s role in ameliorating the natural boom-and-bust cycle inherent in capitalism.

By: Realist

Realist — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:29:07 +0000

Sup & School Board: give everyone except the teachers a paycut. Do it on a sliding scale like the UC system did if you are worried about the lowest paid employees. Don’t worry about losing staff. Few will leave and those who do can easily be replaced by people who would be more than happy to have a job with great benefits. Get it done.

By: harlemmoon

harlemmoon — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:15:49 +0000

Any word on how that hole will be plugged?
I’d hope that everything is on the table now. Anything less is unrealistic in this current economic tumult.