why at this time do you not allocate part of your reserves? >> part of our multi-planning at the end of next year we look at $59 million deficit. these cuts have taken a toll on the districts ability to meet its core mission and offer these additional sessions for this class. so we have to engage in another development budget cycle now that we have started early. but unable to upfront make that investment at this point. and why we are here now. >> but why would that be? i want to understand this. if you ask us to prioritize and pull our reserves for a cause we care about. why won't you put money into this cause. i guess i am asking this commitment that this school has.

and we all see something in the future that we may have to make cuts for. >> right. >> i think that as bad the cuts have been and what i appreciate about meyung, though we have had to have furlough days we haven't had the numbers that other districts have had to have. and part of that is looking ahead to say if, we didn't have that for the next two years to use, we would then have to have furlough days that would limit our time as we are. as part of it from hearing him explain this across to the principals as well too. that when you look at out a three-year budget cycle what he's done is say, we need this amount to supplement, to even

keep schools open for the number of days versus cutting. instead of having 1.5 furlough days this year, versus 10 furlough days like other districts. where i know a bunch of that is, but more details beyond that. >> thank you. >> thank you for your time and i want to see if anything you didn't cover in the presentation. >> i want to be sure in terms of our commitment to accountability. we have set dates when we could come back in progress in terms of student's grades aligned to the grading calendar. but happy to come back any time, monthly, like we do with our own

school board with progress reports of number of students enrolled in classes and those types of things. and you see on the accountability slide. and those are the dates and we have grades in our system from the semester and the summer school. >> thank you. >> and the final slide is very important. because we look the at our past data and set performance metrics. and you see the numbers and the goals we have for those students based on prior expectations and what we have in terms of opportunities for students with credit recovery. you see what we expect in terms of holding ourselves accountable in reaching those targets. >> thank you very much, go you want to add something? >> yes, deputy superintendent lee is here now and very versed on our budget. >> this is the question we had

earlier. i think it's a pretty simple one. i think one of the answers was given by your school board member who talked about the fact this is a one-time request. so she's answered that question. that was a question about the sustainability moving forward. the second question is if this is a school district top priority, and if it is, why doesn't the school district utilize those reserves to use for this. you are asking the city to tap into our reserves and we will be faced with sequestration and child care and we have competing needs. if you are asking the city to put in reserves to pay for this very worthy cause. that i think that the school district is saying is a priority. why won't the school district put in reserves as well? >> thank you, sorry i had to be

out of chambers for a moment. but we have a significant priority on a-g. and hope everything you have heard from the sfusd team reinforces that. we have the 2014 group front and center in priorities in every respect and including funding. we have set aside funds in the 12-13 budget to help meet these targets. we can give you a report on the debatails of that. and in addition we think that in the coming years we will re-examining our budget for 13-14 and beyond to make sure we maintain the critical investments. i will say that one of the events which i think you have heard about is the loss of 21st century funds did come at a relatively late stage in this

process. so the 21st century community learning federal grant which had been in place in eight schools. and several larger high schools that lost the grants are at risk not having after-school programs and including credit recovery offerings for the students. that came quite late. so we didn't have that knowledge in hand when we developed our budget for fy-12-13, and we will have to incorporate that plans going forward. we have a continuing budget deficit. so it's difficult to convey the concern that we have about the fact that we have $24-30 million in the next two years as a structural imbalance between our revenues and expenses. so this reserve it is true, we do have in excess of the 2% reserves that we are required to

forestall state intervention. at the moment that is not going to be the case unless we make additional expenditure cuts. in that context it becomes challengeing to set aside additional funds on the spot. but in the future we have to invest in funds of a-g priority going forward. >> thank you, i think that the question is still outstanding about why the school district couldn't use the reserves. i understand the multi-year problem you face. i think that many jurisdictions do as well. but it feels not quite right that the school district is not putting in money to solve the problem, if the priority is there. and i am not hearing an answer as to why that can't be done. >> as i said, we can provide you a full report of investments we are making out of district

resources. i hope we don't leave you with the impression that we are not investing district resources towards students meeting the a-g. >> that's not the concern that the school district is not putting in funds for the a-g requirements. but after this year you plan to have a $26 million reserve in excess of 2% requirement. and well is some funding left to tap into this issue if it's that big of a priority. and the question is why don't you, and maybe that's not an answer that you can answer at this moment. but it's something they am interested to hear about. supervisor kim you wanted to open the floor for public comment. >> yes. >> i will turn the cards over to you. >> i am not sure who is still here, unfortunately, i know many

parents had to pick up their children. i will call you in the order on the card list. i have paul rodriguez. litto marises and maria hudson. and kevin bogus and betty cowl. if there are members of the public that urgently need to leave, if people can let them speak first, that would be great. >> [speaking foreign language]

[translator] this is mrs. layas and she's a parent of cleveland elementary and she's in support of giving funds over to the school district in reference of

us, members of coleman, it's particularly alarming that school district students in san francisco are off track to graduation. and a disproportionate number of them from her community and hopes this can be fixed so when her children go to high school they don't have to face the same problems. thank you. >> [speaking foreign language]

>> translator: she's alerting you guys to the cuts in the budget in the past years that have completely broken down our system. particularly in credit recovery, and in night school and in summer school. and only a few summer school options have been left open thanks to the mayor. and her greatest worry is if we expect high expectations for the children and don't couple that

with the support they need, we are really failing them. thank you. >> hello, thank you for attention to this matter. i am paul rodriguez and here for the san francisco youth commission. part of the reason we support this is because we feel that securing these additional funds to expand credit recovery options is extremely important. a lot of students affected by this issue are those of students are color. these are students most at risk not that graduate and we need work to be sure that we provide the adequate support. which is something that we feel is not met to this extent. that's why we are enthusiastically supporting

this. and you need work for the students, this is a short fix, and we know that closing the achievement gap is not something that we can throw money at and solve. and working with early indicators and working with the parents and the students is something to work with. we fully back this proposal and we think that the a-g requirement is a sound policy. but in order for it to meet its promise and capacity you need the adequate support to carry it forward. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, i am a member of excelsior and bay hunt community. the school board and the

district took a bold step to align the district high school requirements with the requirements for the uc system. and this said to the state that san francisco is serious about the requirements of the district. the realistic issues that came with this change, when standards are changed and raised, we have the responsibility to be sure that all students are supported to meet those standards. that is why credit recovery is such a crucial piece of the promise that the city made to their youth. the success and college access and career readiness for all students. the promise is tenacious due to the deep cuts.

and securing credit recovery for the students is a necessary step in fulfilling our promise. we are aware that we live in challenging sometimes and mun municipalities across the state are tackling issues. this appropriation is an investment in our youth and as a youth worker and advocate for all students, i humbly ask you to support our students and approve. >> miguel, you are in another set of speaker cards. i will call other speaker cards remaining. monica florez mrs. yong. rene antavares. please approach the mic. >> hello, i am the education advocate for chinese education.

and i work with a lot of chinese families with english learners. and the data shows that 69% of english learners in 11th grade are missing requirements or off track to graduate in 2014. and that's overwhelming over 500 student. and because of the additional english classes the students have to take. they are unable to fulfill the requirements and therefore they need the additional funding for the credits. the families need the guidance for the necessary requirements to graduate and apply for college. we are here to ask for the committee to support this supplementation for credit recovery and for the resources

for class 2014. so that all students get the necessary resources and opportunities to graduate. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, i am kevin bogus and i work with advocates for children youth. you am here to speak on behalf of families and youth in san francisco. we are in a crisis where close to 50% of the students that are juniors in our high school are preparing not to graduate on time. and possibly fail out of school and not complete their education. as a city we have a responsibility to make sure that these students get every opportunity and chance they can to get their diplomas and graduate with their classmates

and be productive citizens to the city of san francisco. i appreciate the difficult questions you are asking of the school district regarding their reserves and how they allocate the funds and use this money in the future. we appreciate that role in the process. but we don't want your concerns and questions to prevent you from supporting this. but it's important that the students know they are supported by the representatives in the city and on the board of supervisors. so they know that we all care that they graduate and have an opportunity to go to college and be successful. we ask that you today support the $2.7 million for the school district to make sure that these students have an opportunity to graduate. >> thank you. >> good afternoon, i am ken tray, from the united educators

of those that work in the classrooms. we are here to speak in favor of the 2.7 million for the schools. having said that we appreciate the concerns of supervisor chu of whether or not the district in the past has made a-g requirements a high enough priority. our concern is with the programs for credit recovery there are real life opportunities working with the students. and studies show that when you have a real-life teacher helping them catch up, they do far better. and some folks are surprised at the high numbers of the students going through school and not receiving a diploma. the teachers in the classroom

are not surprised. we have been aware that the crisis is looming. and why we are so in support of the legislation to give the district the support it needs. and our students should not be left on a limb. and this is a time for the city to rally around the district and the schools and the students and their teachers. and certainly the political support for san francisco is in the schools. and the overwhelming vote for prop "a" and 30 demonstrates that. >> thank you. >> i am here to speak in support

of this proposal and as someone from the schools and i relate to statistics as undercredited as i was going to balboa, and i wasn't able to graduate on my own. i was able to graduate due to support and because of mentors and counselors and programs and tutor that supported me to try to get me. not just graduate but to go to college. when i first heard about the a-g requirements and the affect that we are making that the new standard to graduate from high school. i was super, super excited as someone who found out about the a-g requirements in my senior year. when i first heard about it, i was very, very enthused. and also with that i was very concerned.

because i know we can't just raise the bar on our young people without the necessary support to meet that. with that, i would like to say that i hope you support this and pass this appropriation for sfusd. and i also thank you for the critical questions, because i also agree that we need to be critical and take this maybe as an opportunity to work with s u sfusd that in the long term they are keeping the students on track. but hope you support this as the young people need the support to graduate. thank you. >> good evening, i am christi

nguyen a commissioner for the youth. we are to identify needs of the san francisco youth. and this is an area that is very important to us. and with the budget cuts for the past years it's very difficult for students, including myself, to get back on track and to take the courses needed. and personally the budget cut has affected my also. so i have been staying extra long at school taking extra courses. because there is no after school or summer school. and to get back to track the students need the resources along with me. and every student deserves to graduate. and they should not be held back because of the lack of resources. and it's important to fund the san francisco credit recovery options because we want the youth to be successful and to be

productive in school and the communities and san francisco. and like paul said, we are in support of this proposal. thank you. >> thank you for being here. >> good afternoon, i am della walker, i was not planning to speaking this afternoon. i was in a meeting with the mayor. and heard about the concerns about the school district and their not using the reserve funding. as a former policy maker we know it's not wise to go to the bottom and utilize our reserve. but i think that's a valid point of priority of where the school district should place their efforts to move forward. we are at a point that it's an emergency, it's a 9-1-1 situation, we have a couple

thousands students that we see how to support them and to go into adulthood. and before you go into adulthood hopefully you have the opportunity to a high school diloamd diploma. you have at great opportunity to not support the school district or the community, but to support the students to make sure they have the opportunity to succeed. and in addition the accountability that we are worry where the $3 million would go. you have the unique opportunity to hold the district accountable in ways they are not held accountable in other ways. we hope you not only support this legislation but you give an opportunity for us to work together closer with the district in coming up with innovative ways for not just the

class of 2014 but the classes of 16 and beyond. there is work to be had before we continue to give money to the district each year. but this is an emergency situation and we have students that we have to support. >> thank you, any members of the public that would like to speak? seeing none. we can close public comment. thank you, seeing no other public commenters. colleagues we have this item before us. thank you, i did want to take a moment to thank some co-sponsors of this legislation. along with our office and supervis supervisors here. i think there is philosophical questions of how we spend our reserve if you went.

i think the purpose of this fund. we do take time to use this reserve fund to fund priorities of the city. whether it's a resolving loan fund for small businesses that are a priority of the city and county of san francisco. because they generate jobs in the city. for me personally coming from the board of education. i know how important it is for us as a city to fund the schools. sfusd is in a far different situation from the county because they have five furlough days. because the city supports our schools and we see the voters pass things such as prop "h." that is set aside for programs and the raining day fund. this is a priority to continue

to augment in the school district. to clarify when i approached the school district it was because i was alarmed by the number of furlough days they were expecting in the school year. if prop 30 had not passed the supplemental would look different. which is why we had come after election day. but the priorities would have changed if prop 30 had not passed. thankfully the voters in the state of california pass that allowing us not to move to 10 furlough days. that would be tragic for the students. for me the school continues to be a priority. it's a priority for our district and our city and many families. and unfortunately we made i commitment to the class of 2014-15, not just sfusd but something as a ty