Remember when the SAUSD lost over $5 million after falsifying class rosters in 2007?

By Arturo "Art" Pedroza, MBA

At Washington Elementary School, for instance, documents reveal that school officials created a second-grade roster showing students in a class that didn't exist. The phantom classroom diluted the number of second-graders in existing classrooms -- allowing the average class size to fall below 20.5 and giving the district an additional $1,024 per student per year.

A month later the scandal grew even bigger. "Allegations that the Santa Ana Unified School District falsified documents to retain state funding for small classes mushroomed Monday, with teachers from more than half a dozen elementary schools saying they were asked to sign inaccurate rosters to make their classes appear smaller," according to the L.A. Times.

At a February meeting with Russo and Juan M. Lopez, assistant superintendent of human resources, union officials raised concerns about the altered rosters and the use of substitute teachers and were told that the actions were permissible under the California Education Code, said Jennifer Isensee, who handles grievances for the union.

So what happened? The SAUSD lost $2 million in state aid because it botched its class-size reduction program, then it lost an additional $3.2 million because it overstated the number of special education students enrolled in its summer school programs.

How did SAUSD Superintendent Jane Russo get away with this? And how did the rest of the SAUSD School Board survive this scandal?

Isn't it finally time for change at the SAUSD?

Go to http://www.fixthesausd.com for more information!