DSA PTSO Sponsored Community Meeting- January 18, 2011

Tonight’s Agenda Welcome 5 minutes Short Presentation by Mr. Kohut- 15 minutes Work in groups- 45 minutes Community share out- 25 minutes Target ending time 7:30 pm

Academic Achievement Academic Growth Growth GapsPost secondary/ Workforce Readiness Graduation RateACT Composite Score DSA96.9%79.2%67.5%100%94.4%22.8 East HS75%66.7%56.7%75%81.2%21.2 GW HS56.3%58.3%68.3%75%86.1%20.6 Littleton HS 75% 56.7%66.7%81.4%21.3 Cherry Creek HS 93.8%75%63.3%91.7%91.1%24.4 How Does DSA Compare? Information taken from Colorado Dept of Ed web-site School Performance Framework Reports

Funding & Budget

How Does Colorado Compare? StatePer Pupil Funding Wyoming$17, New Jersey$15, Kansas$11,680 Ohio$10,795 Washington$8792 Utah$6525 US Average$11,223 Colorado$9,541 Information taken from Ed Week – January 13, 2011

DPS Budget On Tuesday, January 18, a proposed budget for fiscal year will be presented to the Board of Education. The district has worked very hard again to maximize the dollars going directly to schools and your flexibility in spending them in the areas that best serve the needs of your students and teachers.

DPS Budget Positive News from the district We are pleased to let you know that, in a year when we are expecting a state budget cut of between $ million, we are planning on increasing your budgets, providing you significantly greater flexibility over how you spend your funds, and using funds to target critical needs, including increased funding for students in poverty, preschool, educator effectiveness, and ELA.

DPS Budget Positive News from the district Our ability to avoid cuts in schools’ budgets is due primarily to continuing enrollment increases, district- level cuts of $10 million, continued savings from our 2008 pension financing, and strong support from grant funders for key initiatives. In total, we are proposing increasing schools’ budgets by $10.5 million, which equates to a roughly 2.3% increase to individual school budgets. (Accounting for a 1% increase in teacher salaries, that translates to a roughly 1.3% real increase in purchasing power for school budgets.)

DPS Budget Positive News from the district per pupil base per pupil base $8, per student$8,489.00

DPS Budget Positive News from the district per pupil base dollars to school minus district expenses per pupil base dollars to school minus district expenses $3, per student$3, per student

What does this mean for DSA Enrollment projected at 1,055 Total school based budget allocation to be approximately $4,147, Increase of $81, with 1% going toward increase in teacher costs

DSA Needs  Maintain class size ratio at a more acceptable level through staffing  Address library and technology staffing needs  After school student supervision  Lack of textbooks in academic classes  Need to budget for costs associated with graduation= approximately $15,  Need to budget for replacement of equipment

Need for community input You will be asked to form groups of six (6) You will be given 45 minutes to discuss four guiding questions to write down your group consensus Come back together and spend 15 minutes sharing out ideas from groups

Need for community input Input will be used when the Collaborative School Committee and administration begin the process of developing the DSA budget

Thank your for attending and providing your valuable input!!!

ADDENDUM Guiding Questions Discussed by Small Groups Looking at the projected funding for DSA provided by DPS, and DSA needs, what additional needs does your group feel should be addressed through the budget? Would your group support an increase in arts fees and technology fees, with the addition of an academic fee to assist with the purchasing of textbooks for a three year period of time (2011/2012 – 2012/2013 – 2013/2014)? What would a reasonable academic fee be? Would your group support a School-wide Gala/Silent Auction in which all proceeds would go toward the school divided, 50% to the arts departments, 40% to academic departments and 10% to Vision 20/20? Would your group support a tuition based after-school arts enrichment program for middle school students taught by DSA guest artists? If the consensus is that your group would support this effort, how would you like to see this structured?