Escondido board approves transfer agreements, despite loss of students

By: SHAYNA CHABNER - Staff Writer
Three times as many student leave area high schools than join district | Tuesday, February 19, 2008 11:05 PM PST ∞

ESCONDIDO -- Saying they were determined to uphold a promise to provide students and their families with options, Escondido Union High School District trustees voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve transfer agreements with nearly two dozen other districts.

The agreements, which allow students to attend schools outside of their home districts, are renewed annually. The agreements have been a point of discussion in many districts recently, however, as districts faced with significant funding cuts and declining enrollment try to hold onto their main source of funding -- students.

Districts receive the majority of their funding -- about $5,500 per student -- based on the average number of students who attend school daily. When there are fewer students enrolled in a district, funding drops accordingly.

"We are happy to know that we can accommodate (student transfers), but the choice is Escondido," trustee Pam Grosso said, emphasizing that the district would like to keep as many of its local students in its five schools as it can.

According to staff reports, the district loses nearly three times as many students to other districts as it transfers in annually. For the current school year, the district is on pace to transfer out 227 students and transfer in 69 students.

Those projected numbers reflect a slight drop in the number of outgoing students and a slight gain in the number of incoming students from the previous year. Nearly all of the students who have left the district as of Jan. 30 have gone to San Marcos Unified, Poway Unified or Valley Center-Pauma Unified school districts.

In approving the agreements, board members did ask district staff members to survey students and their families about their reason for leaving and to check in with them throughout the year to see how they are fairing elsewhere.

"If there are other situations that are a magnet for students, we need to know that," Grosso said. "I would like to know about their needs."

In other action, trustees approved an annual raise for Superintendent Ed Nelson and signed off on two separate agreements where teachers from the Escondido Adult School will be teaching language classes to city employees and school parents in the community.

Nelson's 3.44 percent salary increase, or $5,796, was the same percentage given to teachers. The increase raised Nelson's annual pay to $174, 296. The board also extended his contract a year, through 2010.

His salary will be paid out of the district's general fund. The district is currently operating under a $68.6 million budget for the 2007-08 school year.

"We are pleased to approve your contract ... and we look forward to your commitment and guidance for this district," board president Tina Pope said before a unanimous decision by the board.

The board also signed off on a partnership with the Escondido Police Department and the Escondido Union School District, where adult school teachers will teach language courses.

Under the agreement with the police department, all sworn and civilian staff will take Spanish language courses that are taught by adult school teachers and tailored to their work-related duties. The two-hour classes will not cost the city any money, and will be offered four days a week until all employees have completed them, the adult school's principal Dom Gagliardi said before the meeting.

A separate agreement between the high school district and Escondido elementary district is focused on teaching English to the parents of students enrolled. The goal of the program is to raise student achievement by teaching parents how to assist and support their children with their education.

The elementary district will pick up the cost of the program, about $65,198.

-- Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.