Hello Everyone – This update is going to be comprehensive on some areas. I appreciate your attention. Here are the updates I’d like to share with you:
- Published MH Life Article and Some Community Responses.
- My Take and Interactions at The Morgan Hill Education Foundation Inaugural Meeting.
- Closer Look to May 7th (next board meeting) Agenda Items.
- Upcoming Events - Mark Your Calendars
- Tuesday May 7th Board Meeting – I will update with suggested topics should you like to address the board. Link to Speaker Request. Link to Agenda.
- Tuesday June 4th Public Hearing on LCAP and Budget - more updates on plans to come
1 ) Published MH Life Article and Some Community Responses:
MH Life recently published an article aiming to highlight the budget crisis in MHUSD. Here are some responses I collected to the article:
1- In a post on Parents Square dated March 12, Superintendent Garcia attributed the projected deficit to depleted Covid funds and a retracting State budget. However, in the MH Life article, Dr. Garcia cites a decline in Average Daily Attendance as the central cause of budget reduction. Board President Adam Escoto emphasizes the lack of sufficient funding from the State and the harsh reality of needing to increase taxes. He also suggests that the community needs to better understand school budgets. It seems like the district is unable to clearly identify the primary cause of this deficit. The variability in the stated root cause could be a strategy to confuse the public or divert attention from wasteful spending. This could be due to a lack of understanding of how the budget works, or it could indicate incompetence in managing funds and a lack of expertise in sustainability.
2- The MHUSD Board’s attribution of the issues to Prop 13, which was passed in 1978 (to cap property taxes in CA), appears to be more of a deflection strategy rather than a sincere effort to critically examine the board’s fiscal responsibility and spending practices.
3- The Morgan Hill board has deviated from due diligence, recklessly allowing the superintendent to utilize one-time funds and reserves, and carelessly adding personnel and programs without considering sustainability. Then, they turn around and blame the state. This letter to MH Times expands more on this.
4- Waiting for a miraculous financial solution is irresponsible. They can address the issue by identifying the causes of the problem and creating action plans to eliminate the structural deficit.
5- The Average Daily Attendance (ADA) has decreased to 7,300 (P1) in 2023/24 from 7,900 (Final) in 2021/22 (according to a community member who provided this analysis to me). The state uses a three-year average of ADA for funding purposes. If the district is indeed funded at 7,900 and it serves 7,300 students, the district will need to generate an additional 600 ADA to break even with what the state is currently paying them. Only after reaching this break-even point can the district earn additional revenue beyond its current funding. The district plan to reach this break-even point is with a nearly $90k contract with a 3rd party Saturday School consultant called ESC I posted a more detailed update on this here (section 2) citing red flags. Increasing the ADA to its former levels won’t generate an additional $5 million per year, if the district doesn’t address the issue of declining enrollment.
6- In the spring of 2020, the Board formed a Budget Committee in response to a 15% decrease in revenues. The committee included Mary Patterson and John Horner from the current board, and Jim Levis from MHFT. Meeting notes from May 12th, 20th, and 27th of 2020 are available. According to the notes from May 12th, the committee decided to withhold any decisions until more information about the State budget was available. They reviewed a process for making budget decisions, established guiding principles for budget reductions, and agreed on the information that would be gathered before the next meeting. It appears that the committee was diligent in their fiscal responsibility to balance the budget.
The Budget Committee’s role is to:
- Develop an understanding of the budget and financial issues
- Formulate recommendations to improve communication and enhance understanding of the District’s budget and financial condition
- Propose recommendations on fiscal and program priorities that support the District’s Local Control Accountability Plan, a balanced budget, and long-term financial health
- Review the District’s budget, disseminate information to constituent groups, and generate recommendations for the Superintendent to consider during the budget development process
- Contribute to and support a collaborative process
However, something seems to have affected this diligence from May of 2020. Notably, Dr. Garcia was appointed in May of 2021.
After April 16th meeting, the Budget Advisory Committee was reconvened to meet on May 1st. Despite my repeated attempts, the community was not allowed to participate. Dr Garcia informed me in person on 4/30 that community members are not allowed to participate on May 1st meeting because of an inherited plan that restricts the composition of the Budget Advisory Committee to exclude community members. I requested more clarification on this plan on 4/30 evening and via an email follow up to the board and superintendent (I have not yet heard back).
Since the board meeting on March 19, our community has been requesting to engage in transparent budget discussions, such as those held in a Budget Advisory Committee meetings. Time is of the essence, and we are fast approaching the June deadline.
It’s worth noting that such committees are quite common in neighboring districts like the Cupertino Unified School District. And they were an integral part of MHUSD in the recent past.
2 ) My Personal Take at The Morgan Hill Education Foundation Inaugural Meeting
The Morgan Hill Education Foundation hosted its first meeting in Tuesday April 30th at Mama Mia’s restaurant in an attempt to collect donations and give back to MHUSD. They had raffle prizes ($50 Mama Mia gift certificates), student performances, displayed student art, drinks and dinner. The foundation is led by John Horner, Superintendent Garcia, Board President Escoto, former Trustee Wendy Sullivan, and most importantly, philanthropist Cecilia Ponzini whose other foundation the Edward Boss Prado Foundation made a $25,000 donation to the Morgan Hill Education Foundation that evening.
It is worth noting Cecelia Ponzini and Dori Ann Prado are related through their involvement with the Edward Boss Prado Foundation. Back in 2023 a one-time contract in amount of $25,000 for less than 6 months duration was made with “Living Above the Influence” foundation based in MH which is founded by Dori Ann Prado (who is a full time program manager at Cisco…). This contract was later extended into 2024 total $112K. The website offers minimal information on their offering and services. (I have a more detailed update on this here).
It is worth knowing John Horner also serves as the CFO on the board of the Edward Boss Prado Foundation. He is also the trustee who was sent to Washington DC for nearly 2 weeks paid by MHUSD (at minimum the air fare - per Trustee Horner confirmation in my on-on-one with him early April).
These circular relationships involving John Horner, Cecelia Ponzini and Dori Ann Prado along with three collective foundations, with large sums of money moving around and potentially away from our students, just makes me feel uneasy… I will continue keeping up to date on this.
That evening, I had the opportunity to meet several key figures in Morgan Hill, including Ms. Corrina Sapian, the Director of FACE center (her annual salary is estimated to be between $130k and $180k). However, when I approached her to inquire about the progress of programs at the FACE center, she responded with, “Is this an interview?” I clarified that it was merely a casual conversation, but she chose to walk away. Her lack of engagement with the community seems to contradict the mission of the FACE center, which is to promote family involvement.
3 ) Closer Look to May 7th (next board meeting) Agenda Items
There are two main items I would like to draw your attention to:
1- High number of teacher/staff resignations for 2024-2025 potentially further exacerbating our academic decline in 2024-2025.
2- Approval for high annual salaries of the three Assistant Superintendents amount to $260,371 each per year. It’s worth noting that the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, Dr. Jimenez, and the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Mr. Sanchez, have defined work years of 224 business days. For comparison, a typical work year consists of 52 working weeks or 260 working days. Thus, Dr. Jimenez and Mr. Sanchez receive an annual salary of $260,371 while working approximately 7.5 fewer weeks per year.