Officials of local cities have sent off letters to Governor Jerry Brown and the State Department of Housing and Community Development protesting proposed changes in regulations. If enacted, local government would lose much of its autonomy in the planning of local housing.
Volunteer aides make the Early Childhood Education program work. the State mandated and funded program aims at giving youngsters from pre-school through the 3rd grade better learning experiences. Camino Grove is the only school in the district with the pilot program.
Both the teachers and the Arcadia Board of Education ratified an existing contract, with some changes agreed upon by all involved. Salaries were excluded from discussion due to Prop. 13. The contract extends through June 30, 1980.
The Early Childhood Education program in effect at Camino grove School since last fall has been ranked 19th out of 800 in the State. The program provides funds to expand the program from K through 3rd grade. It is the ultimate goal of California State School Superintendent Wilson Riles that all schools will be able to have ECE.
Howard Jarvis, the father of Proposition 13, spent an hour in Arcadia, knocking down the "straw man" arguments he said were being put up against the property tax initiative. Prop. 13 would reduce property taxes in California to 1 percent of what market value was in 1975-1976, plus whatever is necessary to pay off current bonded indebtedness. A 2 percent annual inflation rate is written into the constitutional amendment.
Overall enrollment for the Arcadia schools was down by 470 on the first day of classes. The drop in enrollment coupled with Prop. 13 has resulted in a very small number of new teachers this year.
There will be no summer school in the Arcadia Unified School District due to the passage of Proposition 13 limiting property taxes to 1 percent of the assessed valuation.
Two ad hoc committees have been established to help the Board of Education make a final ruling on two major problems: Smoking (recent legislation has made smoking on campus legal at the discretion of the local school board) and Graduation requirements.
As it now stands, there will be no busing service for Arcadia students this fall due to Proposition 13 cutbacks. The Superintendent and School Board are still seeking a solution to the problem.
Enrollment for 1975 is down about 1200 children for local schools in the San Gabriel Valley. Though stragglers will bring this figure down, school districts are wary.
The State-administered Federal program which helped supplement reading and math skills for those youngsters with the lowest performances was rejected by a 3-2 vote of the School Board. Voting against were Board members May, Horstman and Clifford; voting for were Fickas and Harvey.
The Juvenile Diversion Program, a Federally funded group of which Arcadia is a part, seeks to divert students who have been in minor problems from the courts and sent them to counseling and treatment. The program has come in for heavy criticism recently due to high administrative costs.
As far as the School District is concerned, the 39.99% reassessment of property due this November for Arcadia won't add much to school funds because when a district's own income goes up, state aid goes down.
The Arcadia Early Childhood Education (ECE) program may be at an end in Arcadia. Two schools have requested to terminate their programs and a 3rd school wished to make large changes in its program.
The Arcadia Board of Education will be asked to approve criteria determining if segregation exists in local schools. A public hearing will then be held, and a report submitted to the State Dept. of Education.