DMUSD Principals / Educators / Staff:

Salutations and good morning! As my correspondence reaches you, first and foremost, I trust that you all are in good spirits and health. Moreover, I hope that all is well with your respective families. On a secondary; however important, note, I wanted to take the time to update you on the results of the proposed funding vote change that was scheduled for last night’s DMSEF Board meeting. I want to ensure that you have the most accurate information. There most likely will be conversations that may veer from the actual content and equally important content of our two year long spirited discussions on revising the existing model.

To cut straight to the end result, there will be NO change in the existing funding model of the Del Mar Schools Education Foundation. As a Board, we completed exhaustive due diligence on how our fellow parents felt about the current model, what variations of models that they preferred, if any, and their respective thoughts overall. This was conducted through campus communication with the respective Board Representatives, campus meetings (I personally attended a number of meetings and took open forum questions from the parents, ESC teachers and Principals), direct conversations with the campus PTA organizations, extensive meetings, community wide survey, calls and communication with the Del Mar Union School District Trustees and the Superintendent.

After incorporating the feedback of all the aforementioned parties, I then, with the Board’s blessing, embarked on the final phase of our due diligence process. We met with the District and with one of our designated Trustees to confirm the District and the Trustees position on the support of any revision in the existing funding model (please note that we have communicated consistently and extensively with both the District and Trustees over the past 2 years on the status of the proposed model). We received a final confirmation from both the District and the Trustees over the past 72 hours (communicated multiple times, daily) that they could not support any model that could have a disparity in funding between any of the schools. Particularly problematic would be the potential of a significant negative impact on schools’ programs as the result of funding less ESC than they are funded in the current year, while other schools’ programs would have significantly more ESC.

After taking this into account with the feedback gathered over the past 2 years throughout the entire district, I made the decision last evening to not move forward with a vote that would change our current funding model. This was based on the fact that, although the proposed model is not intended to create any funding disparity between any and all schools, there is the chance that this scenario could possibly occur. Of course, the Foundation could implement the model; however, it would be a moot point in direct correlation to contribute the raised funds to the District if they were not in the position of supporting the model.

This decision was made looking at the district as a whole and the opportunity to continue to grow as a UNIFIED district and to continue to work in collaboration with the District and the Trustees. The Foundation is excited to continue to move forward as an unified body representing ALL EIGHT SCHOOLS and working directly with our parents, ESC teachers, Principals and the Superintendent. We are definitely proud of the fact that we were able to execute an exhaustive due diligence process to examine and decide on an issue that our community is very passionate about.

Yours in the Del Mar School District,

Ty Humes
Del Mar Schools Education President

Thursday, October 9, 2014