Long Beach school budget talks kick off

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School district officials kicked off budget talks earlier this month when administrators gave the first of a series of presentations to the Board of Education ahead of a spending plan that the public will vote on in May.

While the general budget for the 2019-20 school year has yet to be floated, administrators presented a proposed $18.2 million spending plan for the district’s elementary program staff, citing an increase in mental health resources for students.

At the Jan. 10 board meeting at Lindell Elementary School, administrators proposed hiring a new guidance counselor and a new social worker to comply with a recent state mandate and bolster mental health services for young students.

The current year’s total budget is about $140 million, which included a $2.9 million tax-levy increase over 2017-18.

District chief operating officer Michael DeVito, who presented the plans at the meeting, said the two new full-time staff members — a guidance counselor and a social worker — would work with staff members in all four elementary schools: West, East, Lindell and Lido.

The district currently does not employ any guidance counselors at the elementary level, but has at least four full-time social workers.

“The services will be preventative in nature, and include activities such as student and parent support groups, parent education meetings, family interventions and assistance with outreach to community resources,” DeVito explained.

School officials said the goals of hiring the two staff members include improving students’ mental health and complying with a new state mandate that requires elementary school students to have access to guidance counselors.

“We feel this is a real need in our community, and we are asking the board for an additional social worker for this, and guidance counselor, not only to meet the mandate, but to also help out in this proactive way,” DeVito said. “We really feel it’s important, in terms of strengthening the students’ resilience, to have this additional support and also to work collaboratively with our existing school-based mental health staff members.”

Across the elementary schools, about $13.7 million would be allocated for general education staff while about $3 million would go toward special education and $276,000 would be allocated for library and media staff.

Additionally, $71,000 would be allocated for a guidance counselor, $545,000 would go toward psychologists and $599,000 would go toward social workers.

Evelyn Daza, the district’s coordinator of English as a New Language, or ENL, and student internships, asked board members to hire an additional ENL teacher for the elementary program. There are currently 123 students enrolled in the elementary ENL program, Daza said, adding that she expects 5 or 6 additional students to enroll through June. “As we have a higher number of [English language learners], we’re requiring more staff,” Daza explained.

Additionally, DeVito announced that the district has proposed covering the costs of field trips, or events that relate to instructional program. About $18,600 per elementary school would be allocated for class field trips.

“I’m excited to talk about the inclusion of all costs for elementary field trips — anything that relates to instructional program will be paid for by the district,” DeVito said, adding that the state recommended that the district cover such expenses. “It shouldn’t be a burden that the family has to bear.”