Budget crunch takes toll on summer school

Summer won't be the same for many Sonoma County families as some school districts make major cuts in programs, while they try to deal with lingering budget problems and anticipate new ones.

Santa Rosa City Schools announced that its summer high school program this year will be cut by two-thirds and restructured to give priority to 11th- and 12th-graders who need specific courses to pass or to graduate.

Caught in the cross hairs are younger students who want to make up failed classes or are trying to get ahead so they can take advanced-placement classes.

"We will possibly not be able to support those students," said Sharon Liddell, the Santa Rosa superintendent.

Liddell said the cutbacks have caused concern for parents and students who are in lower grades and may not be able to get into summer school now.

"I have a son who is a sophomore. He lost some credits and we were talking to counselors, and they said he could make up the credits and be on the same track," said Cindy Hazen, a Montgomery High School parent. "Now the rug has been yanked out from under him."

Summer school for elementary and middle schools will not change, Santa Rosa officials said.

Arlen Agapinan, the district's director of curriculum for secondary schools, said that last year 1,570 high school students attended summer school, including 596 seniors, 488 juniors and 392 sophomores.

Those students primarily were retaking classes they had either failed or wanted to improve on for a better grade-point average, or needed to advance to another grade or graduate.

Fewer students take summer school courses to accelerate their education or get a head start on a difficult course. Agapinan said the chances are "slim to none" that there will be room for such students this summer.

"It's going to be a difference in the way we do things," Agapinan said. "We've been used to having summer school, and we will have to get used to limitations in some of the options that are out there. Will it be a hardship? It may, if the student hasn't been doing well in school for whatever reason and now they'll be graduating."

Santa Rosa is not alone in making summer school cuts.

Cotati-Rohnert Park's high school summer program already addresses only those students with the most critical needs, and this year also is eliminating summer school at the elementary and middle-school level for all but eighth-graders.

Those four-week programs have been losing popularity, said Barbara Vrankovich, the district's superintendent.

"I think for the students who have attended regularly in the past, they may miss out," she said, "but is it going make a major gap in their educational performance, I don't think so."

In Petaluma, administrators said there are no plans for summer school cutbacks this year. In Sebastopol, district administrators are waiting to get a clearer picture of next year's budget before deciding on this year's summer school offerings.

The districts are making decisions now as they submit required budget projections for the next two years to the Sonoma County Office of Education, said Carl Wong, Sonoma County superintendent.

The governor had proposed cuts in this year's budget, but the Legislature made cuts in other areas that kept this year's state school financing intact.

"The districts have dodged the bullet this year," Wong said. "No district had to curtail programs."

Next year, however, the governor's budget proposes a 10 percent cut, which for Sonoma County's 40 school districts serving 71,400 students amounts to $54 million, Wong said.

In Santa Rosa, the summer high school program will give priority to 11th- and 12th-grade students who need courses to pass a grade, get their diploma or pass the California High School Exit Exam.

Those are also the only students the state will pay for, Liddell said. Districts have to use other funds to pay for summer school classes for all other students.

"When we run the summer school and try to add students who are not covered by the strings attached by the summer school money, we have to find another way to pay for it," Liddell said. "And we are in budget cuts right now."

You can reach Staff Writer

Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.