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The Broken Piñata – A Cautionary Tale As a kid, we always had a piñata at my birthday parties. As you know, once the piñata is broken, there is a mad dash to get all the goodies. Try eating some candy with grass and sand on it. I can personally tell you it is not very good. These childhood memories come to mind when I think of the dilemma currently faced by California educators. The fiscal issues facing California schools over the next few months and years will test the very fabric of all school districts in the state. Throngs of committees will give input to the administration and school board on what is essential to keep the mission of the district moving forward, while increasing student achievement under No Child Left Behind. “Haves” and “have nots” will come to meetings to plead for their particular agendas. Superintendents will pore over their budgets with their senior advisors, looking for ways to make the budget balance under AB 1200. Meetings will become vitriolic with the human cry of “keep the cuts furthest away from the classrooms” and “not in my program.” The vocabulary will change at these meetings. The language will be combative, and the use of adjectives will be prolific. Phrases like “hunker down,” “bloody cuts,” and “the night of the long knives” will be used by different groups to make their point. After the meetings, superintendents will come forward with their recommendations and present them to the Board for approval. This comes after countless previous meetings, gathering input from all major stakeholders, analyzing the budget, and so forth. And we all know, not everyone will be happy. The daunting task is to cut the district’s budget by millions, which will mean in most cases cutting personnel, since the largest percentage of any district’s budget is personnel. Each of the personnel groups will suffer losses in some way, but particularly the classified and support personnel. Given that the human cry is “keeping the cuts furthest away from the classroom,” superintendents will also look closely at district level administration. Being a retired superintendent, I have been through this before. The theory is that you cut the position and then give those responsibilities to the survivors – otherwise, the district will no longer perform that responsibility. Does that make sense? Not really. But out of necessity and to keep as many cuts away from the classroom, we fall into this trap. It means the surviving administrators will do more -- and we know that something will no longer get done, or will not be done as well. I have a theory called the “Broken Piñata.” It’s based on district level personnel reductions and what can (and usually does) happen. We typically cut the position and bleed out the responsibilities to the survivors closest to the job. Hopefully, they want to impress you, and are willing to work 12 hour days, work a seven day week, and we have seen them work when school is not in session. You get the picture. My theory is that balancing their designated work load, including the assumption of some other position’s responsibilities, something will not get done and will be tossed into the piñata, with the understanding that “it will be gotten to later.” Well, “later” never comes. And even more things get placed in the piñata. The piñata becomes heavier, bursting with items not given the attention they should have received because there just isn’t enough time to give them the attention needed. Then one day, it happens. Someone swings the bat, hits the target, and the piñata is broken. And out come all the responsibilities we thought were being handled, but weren’t. And then no one wants to fix the problem – they just want to fix the blame. Who swings the bat? It could be a critical state report not meeting a deadline, or a “gotcha” from a community group, or a county office of education report, or my personal favorite – a surprise at a school board meeting. I think you get the picture. It is no one’s fault – we make decisions with the best intentions and thoughtfulness, and try to keep the cuts as far away from the classrooms as we can. But the “Broken Piñata” can come back to haunt you, with all the stakeholders watching. How do we keep the piñata from being broken? The task facing superintendents over the next few months will not insulate you from having to consolidate positions at the district and site levels. You are going to spend hours in cabinet meetings, meeting with district and site level employees, and attending board study sessions. But you will still need to reduce positions that represent roughly 85 percent of your budget, on average. When you eliminate a position, take a close look at what you save with the elimination of the position as an ongoing reduction. It is rare that the total amount of the reduction is actually realized, if ever. We all operate under the assumption that some responsibilities will just be eliminated permanently. Realistically, we all know that some eliminated responsibilities quietly creep back into the system. Given that understanding, why not outsource those responsibilities when possible? Let’s say you eliminate a position and have a total savings of $80,000, including fixed and fringe benefits. If you look proportionally at the human cost of added responsibilities to others you may not get the total savings. Why not take 10% of the savings from the eliminated positions and use it to outsource some of the responsibilities added to the survivors? As I said above, it is difficult to realize the total reductions you counted on to balance your budget. And the responsibilities you thought would go away are going to creep back and find their way into the piñata. The task facing superintendents these next few years will be daunting. The economic issues you will be facing will be tremendous. Keep an eye on your personnel reductions and the responsibilities that will be assumed by the survivors. Don’t let the “Broken Piñata” became a reality. Editor's Note: Dr. George H. Bloch has over forty years experience in K-12 education. Dr. Bloch has served as a superintendent in districts with student enrollments from 17,000 to 35,000. In 2001, he was awarded “California Superintendent of the Year” by the Association of California School Administrators. While a superintendent, he was on the Executive Committee of American Association of School Administrators, the Board of the Urban Superintendents’ Association of America and he served for six years on the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission. |
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