Time flies, as the saying goes. The upcoming gathering of the Claremont Unified School District Board of Education, set for Thursday, June 20 at 6:30 p.m., is the last school board meeting of the year before the board adjourns for more than 6 weeks.

The board’s first order of business will be to approve the district’s application for a $27,586 Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Grant for 2013-2014.

If the application is successful, the money will be used to fund equipment and staff release time for professional development in support of pre-existing and new Career Technical Education (CTE) courses, including Engineering & Architecture ($2,310) and Arts, Media & Entertainment courses in photography ($9,875), video production ($6,825) and stage technology ($8,576).

Next up, Lisa Shoemaker, assistant superintendent of business services, will conduct a public hearing on the CUSD’s budget, which Ed Code mandates must be done prior to July 1.

Each year, the district must submit a July 1 budget to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, which includes its plans for the current year along with a budget projection for the following 2 years. The Office of Education then evaluates that budget to ensure that the district will be able to meet its current and future obligations.

In an introduction to Ms. Shoemaker’s budget proposal, available for review on the CUSD website under the Thursday, June 20 agenda (X.1.B.1.), Ms. Shoemaker notes that things are looking up as far as education funding. While it is unlikely that the education budget of CUSD or of any district in the state will increase much, the passage of Proposition 30 in November of 2012 will probably stave off the kinds of cuts that have characterized public education in the past number of years.

The 2013-2014 budget that Ms. Shoemaker will be recommending the district and community approve and the board adopt is broken down thusly: General Fund (unrestricted), $40,364,677; General Fund (restricted), $16,250,058; Adult Education Fund, $767,597; Child Development Fund, $2,165,015; Cafeteria Fund, $2,779,000; Capital Facilities Fund, $1,993,721; County School Facility Fund, $100,000; Capital Improvement Fund, $1,147,500; and Self-Insurance Fund, $4,101,562.

In human resources matters, the board will be asked to approve the agreement between the Claremont Faculty Association and the Claremont Unified School District for the 2012-2015 Collective Bargaining Agreement as well as the agreement between the district and the Claremont Management Association.

Moving onto the consent agenda, the board will be asked to approve several summer field trips, including overnight ventures for 30 members of the Claremont High School cheer squad to attend USA Spirit Summer Camp at UC Santa Barbara; for 10 members of the CHS dance team to attend USA Dance Summer Camp at Cal State Fullerton; for 100 students from the CHS cross country team to achieve Cross Country Summer Training Camp in Wrightwood, California.

The board will be asked to approve some field trips set for the fall, too, including a trip for 14 CHS cross country students to compete in the Clovis International in Fresno; a trip for 20 German Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate students to travel as part of an international exchange program to Munich; and another trip to Fresno for some 14 cross country students who will participate in the State championship. .

The board will also review the district’s instructing the architectural firm of Flewelling and Moody Architects to the tune of $17,690 for additional design studies with regards to the placement of the Service Center. At their June 6 last meeting, the board specified that they would like the architectural firm to focus on 2 Service Center placements, both located on the grounds of the current District Office.  

The next meeting of the school board is set for Thursday, August 1 at 6:30 p.m. All board meetings are held at the Richard S. Kirkendall Education Center, located at 170 W. San Jose Ave. in Claremont.

—Sarah Torribio

storribio@claremont-courier.com