For more information: (714) 870-2800 or http://www.fjuhsd.net

December 12 Meeting

All board members stood in a moment of silence for Anthony White. Anthony White passed away on Friday, November 25th, after battling a very rare, aggressive form of cancer since April of this year. Anthony coached from 2010 to 2016 and, under his leadership, turned the previously struggling Coyotes football program into a perennial winner. As head coach of the Coyotes in his final season, he led his team to attend the record and the Freeway League Championship, the school’s first league title in 25 years. Anthony’s career as an educator is equally impressive and successful. In 2014, he was honored as one of Orange County’s Top 100 Most Influential People by the Orange County Register. He was a finalist for the Buena Park High School Teacher of the Year in both the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 school years. Additionally, Anthony was instrumental in developing, implementing, and teaching the recently introduced and popular Ethnic Studies course. Anthony’s thoughtfulness and generosity surpassed his coaching and teaching accomplishments. Anthony is survived by his wife, Sam, and his children, Anthony Junior and Olivia Grace.

Board Updates

The December 12 FJUHSD organizational board meeting rotated Dr. Chester Jeng in as the new Board President and Dr. Vicki Calhoun as next in line for President of the board.

After Student Board Member (SBM) Esmerelda Lozano’s absence in November, Sunny Hills High School senior Katey Sweeney was sworn in as FJUHSD Student Board member and Sonora High School Senior Grace Nevis as Vice President. Student Board Members are appointed, not elected, and the person holding this seat may be replaced at the administration’s or the student’s request.

The Trustees and administration took a moment to honor Anthony White, Buena Park High School Head Football Coach and Ethnic Studies/Social Studies teacher who recently passed in late November from cancer. He was greatly respected and is missed by his family, students, colleagues, and administration.

School reports covered holiday celebrations throughout all the high schools, and the administration celebrated fall CIF and Freeway League champions. The honors can be found in the first 20 minutes of the meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiqt9l7jQ3s.

Dr. Steve McLaughlin thanked Trustee Joann Fawley for her year of service as Board President and celebrated the 40th anniversary of Trustee Marilyn Buchi’s tenure on the FJUHSD Board.

Budget Updates

Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Ruben Hernandez presented the first interim report on the budget. The 2023/24 FJUHSD budget stayed at $247 million, which includes the 8.22% COLA (cost of living adjustment) and the large one-time money allocations from the Learning Recovery Grant and the Arts, Music, and Instructional Materials Grant. The Arts Grant requires a board-authorized plan, but so far, the Trustees have not publicly discussed a proposal. Education budgets and COLA are calculated on the prior year’s funding and the rise of inflation. Mr. Hernandez reported that even with enrollment down to 12,823 from last year’s 13,173 students and increased expenditures for supplies and capital project costs, the ending fund balance for FJUHSD stands at $71 million in reserves even if the district continues to follow the current 2023/24 budget.

The Legislative Analyst Office (LAO), California’s nonpartisan economic watchdogs, predicts that California’s economy will experience another deficit next year due to ongoing higher interest rates and a slowing economy, meaning less funding for education. The predicted cuts call for planning and conservative fiscal spending, but both the state and our local FJUHSD level reserves are strong, so ongoing programs and personnel should stay stable. Rising Federal interest rates coupled with other factors are slowing down rising inflation, leading to stagnation at the higher price point and interest rates of this past year. The LAO currently predicts a COLA of only 1.27% for the 2024/25 budget, reflecting this year’s stable (if higher) cost of living. However, Mr. Hernandez supports a fiscally conservative outlook for future spending reflecting the district’s regular fiscal protocol.

This ongoing, downward trend in funding makes the Local Control Accountability (LCAP) meetings a vital way for parents, students, and teachers to tell the Trustees what programs and personnel are essential to ongoing student learning and wellbeing. If the administration and the trustees remain ignorant of which programs and services lead to student achievement versus what is not effective, when lower budgets determine program and other cuts, the district may remove the most effective recent improvements along with redundant expenses. Now is the time to contact the Trustees and tell them what academic and support programs are helping student success and learning recovery. As the state steadily embraces categorical spending in the form of one-time money grants with expenditure deadlines, districts need focused and detailed LCAPs to guide the trustees to allocate funds where teachers, parents and students communicate as necessary.

Next FJUHSD Board meeting January 9 at 6 pm.