Parents Deserve Praise for Small Classes

Re “Pupils Short-Changed Again,” June 29:

Your June 29 editorial barely referenced a valiant but unsuccessful effort by the Capistrano Unified School District community to launch a districtwide fund-raising effort to save its third-grade class-size reduction program. Though the Irvine Unified School District succeeded in raising funds districtwide, it is much smaller than Capistrano Unified and serves the residents of a single city, not nine disparate jurisdictions as does Capistrano. Moreover, it has the deep pockets of a single beneficiary, the Irvine Co.

Your editorial offered legitimate criticism of Capistrano Unified for allowing -- not promoting -- school-by-school fund-raising. But it should also have noted the bottom line to having parents galvanize themselves into action for public education at almost all our schools: At least 32 of our 36 elementary schools will have the program restored; some 60 teachers previously slated for layoff will be back on the job in August, serving third-grade children in classes of no more than 20.

I challenge The Times to editorialize about an antiquated state school funding system from the 1970s that perpetuates inequities by allowing districts like Saddleback Valley, Irvine, and Capistrano to be funded at roughly $100 per annum per student below the state average for all unified districts.

For example, Top of the World Elementary School in Laguna Beach Unified and Moulton Elementary in CUSD are less than two miles apart and serve children of near-identical communities. Top of the World, however, for no reason other than geographic and historic serendipity, has $1,687 more to spend per child from the state than does Moulton.

If Capistrano Unified received the same amount of funding per pupil as Laguna Beach Unified, its $312-million budget would grow by $77 million.

It is unconscionable for neighboring districts to have such disparate per-pupil funding levels. Therefore, to pick on Capistrano Unified because the parents chose to save an academic program through fund-raising is simply unfair. The real tragedy is that they had to engage in fund-raising at all.

James A. Fleming

Superintendent, Capistrano Unified School District

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Parents and administrators from Capistrano Unified and Saddleback should be praised instead of criticized. They are doing whatever they can to ensure that their children get the best education possible. Shouldn’t all parents want that? Due to Gov. Gray Davis’ mismanagement of the budget, districts face a serious budget dilemma. Administrators had two choices: say no to parents and cause the students to be short-changed or say yes and allow some schools to keep lower class sizes. The administrators chose the best option they had.

In an ideal world, every school would have parents who are concerned about their child’s education and have the financial means to assist. This, unfortunately, is not the case. Schools that have a large low-income population receive extra assistance from the government. PTAs step up in many schools to provide additional help. This is nothing new.

Davis has let students, parents, and educators down with his mismanagement of the budget. Shortly, we may have another election for governor. This time Californians can vote for a governor that will not shortchange students.

Raphael J. Margolin

Fountain Valley