From the Superintendent

Letter from Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhauser to Employees

January 12, 2009

Dear Colleagues,

I last wrote a letter to you in November regarding the state’s serious budget crisis. Since then, the situation has gone from bad to worse. California’s budget deficit is now estimated to grow to $41.6 billion. Gov. Schwarzenneger’s budget proposal calls for a drastic $275 per student reduction for the current fiscal year. The Governor also has proposed reducing the length of the school year by five days. In light of these and other dire proposals that would force us to cut $50 million from our budget, I want to keep you informed on what we’re doing about the problem.

The cost-savings measures outlined in November remain in full force, including many suspended activities, a hiring freeze and the elimination of overtime hours.

We are using several communications methods to solicit feedback and keep you and parents updated on the changing budget situation both here and in Sacramento. Among these efforts is an online survey that is now available to you and the public. The survey will help gather input from you and other stakeholders regarding district program priorities. We will use our Teleparent autodialing system to encourage parents to take the online survey. Teleparent messages and the surveys will be available in English, Spanish and Khmer. All three versions are accessible on our home page at www.lbschools.net.

We have reconvened our district Budget Advisory Committee indefinitely. We want to obtain as much input as possible from all of our stakeholders so that our Board of Education can make educated decisions about how best to serve you, our parents and especially our students during this difficult time.

We will provide you with updates at least on a monthly basis, as our staff work diligently to find ways of saving money and generating revenue. We want your ideas on these matters, too. Meanwhile, we strongly support the Governor’s proposal to provide more flexibility as to how we use our limited state funds. We began working with the state on this issue of flexibility more than six months ago. We will remain innovative, working with non-profits, professional organizations and other groups to generate much needed revenue.

Our focus is to protect as many jobs as we can while putting the needs of our students first. Our unrelenting focus on children is what makes Long Beach great, and it is the reason we have continued to close achievement gaps while cutting $90 million during the past four years.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding as we work to make cuts that will help preserve as many jobs as possible while protecting our students’ education.

Sincerely,

Christopher J. Steinhauser

Superintendent of Schools

P.S. I deeply appreciate your dedication and perseverance, as do thousands of parents and so many others in our community who recently voted overwhelmingly to support Measure K school bonds. Despite many years of state funding cuts, we remain one of America’s best urban school systems thanks to our community’s strong support and your devoted efforts to serve every student, every day.