Modesto City Schools board to honor top test takers before its last meeting of the year

Modesto City Schools will kick off its end-of-year organizational meeting at 5 p.m. Monday with a reception recognizing perfect 600 scores on state tests last spring.

Fifteen district students got top marks in science and 63 aced the math and/or English portions of the Common Core-based tests taken electronically. California belongs to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

After adjourning to a closed-door session, at 6 p.m. the board will take up election of officers, with the gavel expected to go to board veteran and current Vice President Steve Grenbeaux.

A number of routine appointments will follow, and short sessions convened for pro forma votes as the Modesto City School District Financing Corp. and as the Modesto City Schools Joint Powers Authority.

Back on board for district business, trustees will consider contracts revised to include stipends and mileage as part of salary, a legal requirement, for top-level administrators. None include raises.

Superintendent Pam Able’s contract will continue to pay her $240,066 a year. Deputy Superintendent Craig Rydquist’s contract retains his $170,858 per year, and Associate Superintendent Ginger Johnson’s pay will stay at $154,828. All three contracts run through June 2017.

The contract for Chief Business Official Julie Betschart, however, will change from an annual pay schedule to a daily rate of $678.68, which multiplied by her 222 contracted days adds up to the same $149,557. Her contract ends June 30.

Asked about the change, the district said via email, “The switch from an annual contract to a daily rate aligns the CBO with the other classified managers in the district. This movement to a daily rate aligns with pension calculations and changes that are taking place throughout the state.”

Betschart will go over district finances for the board as part of the semiannual reporting sent to the state Department of Education. It shows as of Oct. 31 the district expected to spend $2.3 million more than it receives in its general fund, even after counting in increased state revenues. That is a significant change from a $7.2 million surplus anticipated in its original budget in June.

The shift reflects 4 percent raises for this school year agreed to by its support staff union and management group, but does not include raises still being negotiated for its teachers. The district has offered the Modesto Teachers Association a 4 percent raise, which would cost the district $6.2 million, by district calculations.

District reserves of $70 million will cover the deficit, allowing the board to certify its budget as solid.

The union formally declared negotiations at impasse in early November. Reached by email Friday, MTA President Doug Burton said there is no deal in the works. “We are proceeding to mediation,” Burton wrote.

Also on tap for the meeting is a presentation on the Modesto City Schools transportation department, which includes 49 school buses that drive about 4,200 miles across the 250 square miles of district territory and ferry students on about 1,000 field trips and other events a year.

The department has 58 employees who drive and maintain 530 pieces of equipment, from buses to golf carts to lawn mowers, notes the agenda report.

The board will next meet Jan. 19.

This story was originally published December 6, 2015 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Modesto City Schools board to honor top test takers before its last meeting of the year."