Despite Major Budget Cutbacks, PUSD Plans Additions and Renovations

By Michelle R. Brown

Pasadena Unified School district and Sierra Madre City Council held a joint meeting on May 17, outlining future plans for construction and discussing the major budgetary issues the schools will be facing in the next few years.
“We have some huge challenges in public education,” said Vice President of the PUSD Board of Education Ed Honowitz on the budgetary issues. Honowitz also praised the involvement of Sierra Madre and Pasadena parents in their children’s education, and the great staff members working to deal with the budget and construction issues.
PUSD Chief of Finance John Pappalardo gave a presentation about the state budget issues affecting the community schools. California’s spending per student is approximately $2,590 less than the national average, a number which falls both in the bottom five out of all states, but the worst spending per student that California has ever seen. These numbers threaten to grow worse and worse.
If the state decides on an “All Cuts” budget, the schools will face cuts of $13 million for the 2011-2012 school year, and additional cuts of $8 million for the 2012-2013 school year. These cuts would mean closing two schools, Burbank and Loma Alta, eliminating programs in music and arts, laying off all librarians, many custodial staff, and one of the security offers.
Next year’s budget, according to Pappalardo, is “anybody’s guess right now, we just don’t have any info from the state … for a state with the eighth largest economy, I would say that’s pretty sad.”
Board of Education Member Tom Selinske noted that the priority is to keep cuts away from classrooms, but we are reaching a point where that is no longer possible.
Despite these significant cutbacks, PUSD is able to pursue a major project to put additions on Sierra Madre school campuses including Sierra Madre Lower Campus and Sierra Madre Upper Campus Middle School. The project in total will cost upward of $29 million, and they are currently working with bond funds, which means that the funds dedicated to this construction project could not be used to offset budgetary losses.
The bonds were voted for in November 2008 as part of Measure TT, a $350 million bond initiative to repair and upgrade PUSD’s campuses. Chief of Facilities Directior David Azcarraga made clear that the project was not a modernization of old facilities, but a series of additions to the campuses.
The project is currently awaiting approval from the Division of the State Architect, and has been stuck there for over 282 days. Azcarraga gave a projected finish date of July 8 for that part of the approval process. The entire construction project should take around 4 years, and PUSD hopes to begin construction following Board approval this August.
Other community concerns were the construction traffic, parking issues while renovations take place, construction noises, and fears that the sports facilities would be used by non-students on the weekend. Azcarraga and architect Wade Frazier addressed these concerns, by changing the design to enclosed basketball courts that could only be used during school areas, changing the times of deliveries to afternoons rather than early morning or drop off/pick up times, and updated renderings explaining traffic flow and available parking.
The renderings and more information will soon be available at www.pusd.us and www.measurett.org.

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