MUSD to address student transfer policy
Once upon a time, when schools were overwhelmed with student enrollment, it was not a big deal when some residents chose to transfer their k...
http://www.menifee247.com/2009/01/musd-to-address-student-transfer-policy.htm
Once upon a time, when schools were overwhelmed with student enrollment, it was not a big deal when some residents chose to transfer their kids to other districts. However, due to the sagging housing market and budget cuts, the situation has changed. This year, 250 students transferred out and only 166 transferred in. That equates to a big financial loss for the district, which receives about $7,000 per year in state money for each student.
The MUSD governing board will hold a study session at 3:30 p.m. Thursday to address the transfer policy of it's students. There will be time for public comment before the study session.
Trustee Rita Peters said the decisions shouldn't be based on dollars and cents. However, Board President Bob O'Donnell favors revisiting the policy and says that financial reasons cannot be ignored.
The board has asked that scenarios be brought to Thursday's meeting for their consideration. The meeting will start at 3:30 p.m. at the district office, 30205 Menifee Road.
Information adapted from:
MENIFEE: School board to address transfer policy
Trustees look at ways students are allowed to leave district
By CRAIG SHULTZ - Staff Writer Friday, January 16, 2009 5:09 PM PST ∞
The MUSD governing board will hold a study session at 3:30 p.m. Thursday to address the transfer policy of it's students. There will be time for public comment before the study session.
Trustee Rita Peters said the decisions shouldn't be based on dollars and cents. However, Board President Bob O'Donnell favors revisiting the policy and says that financial reasons cannot be ignored.
The board has asked that scenarios be brought to Thursday's meeting for their consideration. The meeting will start at 3:30 p.m. at the district office, 30205 Menifee Road.
Information adapted from:
MENIFEE: School board to address transfer policy
Trustees look at ways students are allowed to leave district
By CRAIG SHULTZ - Staff Writer Friday, January 16, 2009 5:09 PM PST ∞
This problem is only going to worsen. The County is suffering a current unemployment rate of 9.5%, and recent statistics point to a 12.5% rate by year-end. People need to go where the jobs are, and right now they are not in Riverside.
ReplyDeleteIf the city focused more on bringing in jobs and instead of bring more homes maybe that would change.
ReplyDeleteKudu - how does your comment relate to the school transfer issue? What you are referring to is unemployment and jobs. The issue is that residents that LIVE in a specific area within Menifee wish to have their children attend a school that may not be within their zone.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about the dollar amount that the district gets for each student. I believe you are rounding up. It would be nice to state the exact amount so that the pubic is well informed. I read a comment on another story here that stated 10,000 per child. And, it stated that public school charges and does more with 4,000 per child. Those amounts are incredibly confusing and incorrect and cause rumors and misinformation. I appreciate the information on this blog but would appreciate exact amounts regarding costs and financial issues as it helps me make better decisions and does not tempt me to be alarmed by vague statements.
ReplyDeleteThe issue that Kudu is trying to raise is that one of the biggest reasons why parents request transfers is so that they can have their child attend a school close to where they work.
ReplyDeleteI attended a number of school board meetings, and it seems that every meeting has several parents requesting a transfer due to after-school care "hardship". It usually has to do with a parent that works far away, and who finds it difficult picking up their child in a timely manner.
As a result, the school board had come up with a set of criteria on what constitutes an acceptable request for transfer. Oddly enough, afterschool care hardship was one of the criteria.
So what it boiled down to is that the MUSD board had allowed transfer requests where the issue was "parent convenience". And if you consider the economic situation that the Inland Empire is in, it's a bad policy.
But then again, the Board came up that policy back when the economy was still good.
That's just tough! If you live in Menifee, your children should attend school in Menifee, period!
ReplyDeleteI have no sympathy for people who request transfer out of the city they live in.
"Work where you must, but live and shop in Menifee"
Are you joking? "That's just tough" Closed minded, inflexable, rigid. YUK!
ReplyDeleteFirst, what about those children that are transfered into Menifee Schools that live outside Menifee. Students transfer out AND transfer in. What we should be focusing on is EDUCATION of all California children.
ReplyDeleteI find it quite odd, that with our state in such financial problems, deficit of 40+ billion dollars, that no one at the state level has considered taking STAR testing off the table for a year. It costs the state 100's of millions to administer these tests. School districts are loosing money from the state, forced to make mid-year cuts, and the possibility of school personnel loosing jobs is high, the state continues to spend money on ONE test!
The education of our children in the state of California is being jeopardized, class sizes are bigger, programs are being cut, teachers have to beg parents for supplies, and as for what CA schools spend on students, we are number 50! Parents, educators, communities, and our legislature need to stand up and say enough is enough! People were willing to gather by the thousands all across the state to oppose Prop. 8 saying it protects their children...well what about gathering together and protecting the education of the same children!
To confused anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThe information was adapted from an article in the Californian and the figures came from the MUSD board if you bothered to look at the bottom of the article (as I did).
The reason the figures vary a bit are because funding comes in more ways than one and can be counted as such. Between actual monies, lunch vouchers, special program grants etc... there is no way to put an exact amount per child, it is an average based on the student body etc...
If you are that confused, I suggest you spend a little time researching it yourself or call the State office of Education. I think most people know that a blogging site is to share basic information and opinions, maybe you should try other sources if you are that worried?
Yes, but I bought my house when Paloma and Bell Mountain were the schools--which ARE close to where I live and do everything, but now I'm going to be forced to send my kids to Heritage and who knows what middle school, further away from where I live. How does that make sense, according to you who say put your kids in school where you live and work?
ReplyDeleteSo I live in Heritage Lake, which has now been incorporated into the City of Menifee. However the schools in Heritage Lake are Romoland School District. Romoland is far behind Menifee educationally and i will not be putting my Child in Romoland School District. As you can see the situation has all kinds of problems. I live in Menifee, my child should be able to go to MUSD without any problems, Right? Wrong, i would need a district transfer which they wont provide. So my child will be going to Hillcrest Academy in Temecula. To me its not about convenience its about my child getting a good,quality education at any cost. My older child came from Corona - Norco USD and the only district out this way that offers the same quality education is Temecula. As parents, what can we do to help MUSD or Romoland improve educationally and im not talking about the stupid state tests.I mean real education, like History, and Science and world geography.Not just Mat and english but a real well rounded education. If these districts offered a high quality education, people would figure out a way to keep thier children in these schools and districts and thus solve these transfer problems.What needs to happen so that our districts can offer the same, if not better education as some of the larger ditricts.Can we stop paying the Superintendents so much and put it back into our children.Seriously what needs to happen ?
ReplyDelete"What needs to happen"
ReplyDeleteGo to the school board meetings and be a part of what they are planning and talking about. Then spread the word to your neighbors and so on. The school board is elected by the people and therefore work for the residents. I can tell you from experience that they are so focused on numbers and money right now and that "qualilty of education" is on the bottom of the priority list. If you want to see a change then GET INVOLVED. You can go to the menifeeusd.org website and get info on being a part of the budget committee...
Quality education starts at home. Parents should model excellence and high standards by the way they speak, write, and the activities they involve themselves in. There are schools in Temecula that do not have time or resources to provide "well rounded education" because they are constrained with federal and state mandates too many to mention. Every district has its high and low performing schools. Every school has its high and low performing classrooms. The classrooms that are doing better than the others are the classrooms with the parent volunteers and parent involvement. Look at the English grammar, sentence construction, and spelling errors in this blog alone. Then tell me how our English speaking kids are supposed to perform well on state tests?
ReplyDeleteAs for transfers, they should be very liberal and allow most. I am the parent of 2 kids and I hope to take them with me and enroll them near where I work. In an emergency, I want them to be close so I can get to them fast. I also want to visit them at lunch and have them spend as much time with me and as little with daycare. It is a parents ultimate privilege and responsibility to put their development and security at the top of the priority list.