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Yesterday, a nice Cooper mom, asked the questions that are on everyone's mind...
"Attended the rally this afternoon, great idea, but wish more parents and staff would have participated. My son attends Cooper, we support the PTO, do the fundraisers, donate to the class on top of the basic taxes that are suppose to help the schools. Now we are being asked to give more, however I can't seem to find any detailed information on WHO will be controlling the funds raised by this SOS program, HOW it will be decided as to WHERE the funds are distributed, IF there will be an OPEN accounting for all the funds collected and spent. If the information is out there, I would sincerely appreciate being told where to find it. Raising money to help the schools is a great thing, but as I am my child's advocate I have to wonder if the money raised from each school's "extended" family, if you will, will go back into that school. It may be selfish, but at times such as this I think every parent needs to be concerned primarily with how the cuts and efforts made to circumvent them will affect their child and their school. Will this money help save teacher's jobs? If so which teachers? Is it known what programs at what schools are the districts top choices to keep if at all possible? Thank you for your time, I look forward to your reply." ~ Celtic Indian
Thank you for asking the hard questions! I agree with being selfish, I feel the SAME way.
There is a VERY big problem in our school district, actually our WHOLE STATE is having a problem funding our public education. THIS IS A CRISIS. I saw a flier sent out yesterday and it really drove home how big this problem really is. It said "Solano County Schools have been cut $96.4 Million Dollars affecting 67,203 students", it went on to say that VACAVILLE has "$24.5 million dollars in cuts from 2009-2011". That is 1/4 of Vacaville's budget has been taken away in the last two years. THAT IS ASTONISHING! This is a VERY BIG PROBLEM which is why we are calling it a crisis.
I am a parent in this school district and most of the people on the SOS Committee are also. We joined forces and asked if we could help come up with a solution to the problem. THIS IS OUR ONLY SOLUTION. We are going to raise money. This blog was designed to help keep our community in the loop on both our efforts and how much money we are raising. This is NOT an official website for the Vacaville Unified School District, www.vacavilleusd.org. We do not get to decide how the money is going to be spent. We do not get to decide where the money will be spent. Part of the reason this is such a hard issue is because my wish list, because I am a parent of an elementary student, is going to be different than the wish list of a middle school parent or a high school parent. We have elected officials that have a job to do and we need to hold them accountable. I can say this though ANY money raised will go to our school district and will be used to help relieve, hopefully, at least SOME of the cuts. We are trying to be part of the SOLUTION.
It is expected that we will CUT 4-12 million dollars out of our budget next year because the STATE will not be giving us the money. This is not a poor management issue. This is a CUT. Here is the link, http://www.vusd.solanocoe.k12.ca.us/projects/10/Budget%20Information/PowerPoint%20Presentation%2061809%20Budget%20Adoption.pdf, if you would like to see the school districts list of proposed cuts
In the matter of trust, I agree! The trust is not there for most of the people I come into contact with, BUT if you have something that you think is important WRITE LETTERS and SEND EMAILS to the people that we have elected and hold them accountable. TELL them what you want and MAKE them aware of what is important to US as a community. I can tell you that I have seen this work first hand.
PLEASE write our elected officials and tell them what is on your mind!
HERE ARE EMAIL ADDRESSES, PHONE NUMBERS and ADDRESSES!
Solano County Office of Education:
County Superintendent of Schools Dee Alarcon, Dalarcon@solanocoe.net.
Board of Education:
President Mayrene Bates, MBates@solanocoe.net
Vice President John Galvan, JGalvan@solanocoe.net
Trustees Doug Ford, DFord@solanocoe.net;
Ray Silva, RSilva@solanocoe.net;
Larry Asera, LAsera@solanocoe.net.
Maria Kennedy, MKennedy@solanocoe.net
Rozzana Verder-Aliga, RVerder-Aliga@solanocoe.net.
For board, call 399-4402. Main office: 5100 Business Center Drive, Fairfield, 94534; 399-4400; fax: 863-4175; Web site: www.solanocoe.net.
Vacaville Board of Education:
President Michael Kitzes, michael@kitzesfamily.com
Vice President Larry Mazzuca, LMazzuca@cityofnapa.org
Clerk Katherine Brannon, Katherin.Brannon@sbcglobal.net
Trustees Bill Hausler, seniorrab@aol.com
Theresa Buck, terinutt@aol.com
Mary Kay Sogge, MaryKaySogge@mac.com
Jay Yerkes, jyerkes@pacbell.net
District office: 751 School St., Vacaville, 95688; 453-6100, fax: 453-6999; Web site: www.vacavilleusd.org.
Does this mean that the SOS campaign will not be pursuing Non Profit status? Contributions will not be tax deductable since it is going straight to the school district and the parents and other involved parties will have no say in what happens with it? It could theoretically go to funding all the administrators salaries and not a dime could make it to our kids. This is absurd!
ReplyDeleteAwesome Response. The point of the campaign is to GIVE, GIVE NOW and GIVE to the organization you trust in! VUSD has created an account VUSD/SOS Crisis Fund and all monies will be direct to it. They are governed by the School Board who were elected officals by the public! There will be reports posted openly as to what and schools recieving monies. PJ Goodson
ReplyDeleteI would like to clarify that YES, the SOS is in going to have a non-profit status and YES the donations will be tax deductible. I know that the VUSD members are going to be putting a statment out that says - the money will not be used for adiminstration. This has been a VERY big topic of discussion for the committee members and continues to be, ALL of us want to be sure that our efforts are not for the adminstrators ....it is for the kids.
ReplyDeletePlease understand that we (The SOS Committee Members) are PARENTS. The committee members are DETERMINED to do what we can to help our kids.
It doesn't stop with raising the money. We continue to fight and keep the money where we want it at the SCHOOL BOARD MEETING and the BUDGET ADVISORY MEETINGS.
Exactly who are these "SOS Committee Members"? Can't find any info as to who you are other than you are moms. How many moms? Which schools do your kids attend? What are your names? Etc.
ReplyDeleteIt's GREAT what you are doing, but as someone mentioned earlier, we need more information.
Thank you! :)