Tustin Unified School District Accomplishments

By Lynn Davis

Financial Accomplishments

Each year, Tustin Unified is one of the fastest growing school districts in Orange County, as more families choose our school district as their educational home. We now serve over 24,000 students and their families.

TUSD engaged the widely respected firm School Services of California, Inc. to review the financial condition of the Tustin school district. Here were some of their findings:

Tustin operates a "lean administrative model" at school and district levels "in all measures of administrative staffing efficiency"

"...the District's budget is on extremely firm ground, due to solid fiscal management and a conservative philosophy that gathered reserves during good times to help in tough times..." even while opening 3 new schools!

The district continues to earn the highest ratings from auditors and examiners despite significant reductions in revenue from the State of California due to their ongoing financial challenges. Teachers, staff, administrators and the school board are working together to provide quality education with significantly fewer tax dollars.

Our fiscal conservatism during good times and bad has put us in a position to be able to invest in continually improving the education provided to students in our community. High quality schools attract new families, new businesses, and support our local economy and property values.

Educational Accomplishments

The efforts of each of our teachers and other staff, including those who work in the library, cafeterias, as school secretaries, nurses, health clerks, principals and other administrators, are all critical to the success of the 24,000 students of our school district. We work hard to support our employees as they support our students, and to maintain a relationship of trust with all parties.

The result is even more excellent schools contributing to strong neighborhoods. Students achieve steadily improving test scores and admission to respected colleges including every University of California, USC, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Syracuse and many others!

TUSD schools earned 16 California Distinguished School awards in the past five years - including 8 elementary schools earning them this year!

Every middle and high school earned a "9" or "10" statewide or as compared to similar schools. All middle and high schools won recognition in the past two years from the California Business for Educational Excellence - appearing on their Honor Rolls, as have the large majority of our elementary schools.

Passage rates for 10th graders on their first attempt at the California High School Exit Exam have increased by nearly 50% + from the 60% range to the 90% range after the Board took the initiative to strengthen student preparation programs. This first-time passing rate exceeds state and county averages. Students who do not pass a test on the first try get additional opportunities. Nearly all of our seniors - over 99% - pass the California High School Exit Exam to earn their diplomas each year, whereas many districts are still struggling.

TUSD adopted the strongest phonics-based reading program ever, with an excellent teacher development program behind it. This is directly benefiting our students today, and will pay long-term dividends for all of our students! More recently combined with our new RTI methodology, we continually seek to assure that every student learns the fundamental ability to read well.

Facilities Accomplishments

Each year, Tustin Unified is one of the fastest growing school districts in Orange County, as more families choose our school district as their educational home. We now serve over 24,000 students and their families.

We now have three great high schools with Beckman High joining Tustin and Foothill High Schools.

Hicks Canyon Elementary and the Orchard Hills school were also opened, relieving overcrowded conditions.

We will have new science centers at each of our three high schools, and we have made other significant improvements to the two older schools, Tustin High School and Foothill High School.

I worked with others to gaining approval for field lights at Utt Middle School for after-school sports programs such as the Tustin Eastern Little League, and in setting the precedents leading to the approval of the Lacrosse Club Teams for both Foothill and Beckman High Schools. We have now approved Lacrosse as a CIF sport for all TUSD high schools.

Our students benefit from a full range of options to develop a well-rounded educational program that fits their personal needs. Not only do we offer a full set of athletic options, we have award winning arts, music, dance and other creative teams, classes and programs at each school. We have added many technical and engineering options as well, such as Robotics clubs and programs, hands-on engineering classes, graphic and product design, computer-based as well as traditional art instruction, and are continually seeking to provide all students with many options for identifying and building their personal strengths - the strengths that will make them successful in college, in the work place, and as responsible adults in our society.