District may have to charge fees for some programs to keep them alive

REDLANDS - The school district may not cut a popular preschool program, but parents will have to pay to keep the program going.
Concerned parents were at the podium Tuesday night, trying to convince the Redlands Unified School District board of trustees not to cut Parent Education for the Preschool Child - a preschool program designed to teach parents as much as it teaches 3- and 4-year-old children.

The district will have to trim $9 million before June 2010 school year because of the state budget crisis.

Adult education budgets have been slashed, said Scott Bohlender, assistant superintendent for education services.

The district will lose $276,851 in state adult education money before the end of the 2009 school year in June. It will lose another $80,019 before the 2009-2010 school year. The losses for both years represent a 20 percent drop in adult education budget for the district.

Much of the district's funding for K-12 education and adult education comes from the state. Because the state will cut more than $9.3 billion from public schools between now and the end of June 2010, the school district is left with few options.

"Balancing a budget's not that difficult," school board member Neal Waner said Tuesday. "You either increase your revenue or you decrease your costs. We can't increase revenue, so we have to cut costs."

Board President Pat Kohlmeier blasted state legislators Tuesday for leaving California schools in such a bad position.
"It's like we're being forced to accept something that we know is bad policy and that we know is bad for the future of California and we know is bad for the future of education," Kohlmeier said.

The district runs the program out of the Redlands Adult School. It is a preschool program where the parents learn as much as the children. Teacher Dennie Marie has taught parents and preschoolers in the class since 1991.

The school district cannot mix money set aside for adult education with money set aside for K-12 education, Bohlender said.

"They are completely separate," Bohlender said. "You can't take funds from K-12 and infuse them into your adult education programs."

The school district will try and keep the parent education preschool program going funded through student fees instead of relying on state dollars.

If the program - or any other adult education programs - are saved by a switch to a fee system, the fees could not be used for profit to the school district, Bohlender said.

John Massey, principal of Redlands Adult School, sent a letter to the parents enrolled in the preschool program, trying to gauge interest in a possible switch to a fee-based program, Bohlender said. If enough parents agree to pay the fees necessary to save the program, it will continue at least through the end of the school year in June.

After the school year is over, the district will try to determine if there will enough parents willing to pay the fees to keep the preschool program alive.

"Right now, we're worrying about getting through this year," Bohlender said.

Bohlender said Redlands Adult School may have to look into charging fees for several art classes that the budget won't allow for after the end of the school year. If there aren't enough students who are willing to pay the fees for the classes, the classes could be cut.

E-mail Staff Writer Jesse B. Gill at jgill@redlandsdailyfacts.com