San Marino Unified School District Launches “We Are San Marino”

Greetings San Marino Parents, Staff, Students, and Community Members,

I hope you and your loved ones are staying well during these difficult days. I want to bring to your attention the recently launched “WE ARE SAN MARINO” campaign to save 20 teacher and counselor positions here in SMUSD ( WeAreSanMarino.smsf.org ) . I am so appreciative and excited to partner with our San Marino Schools Foundation as it has taken on the great responsibility of providing funding to restore the lost positions to our students and schools. Never has it been more important for the community to understand the immense need and critical timing of this campaign. We Need Your Help Now !

Before the COVID-19 crisis, San Marino Unified had arrived at a critical financial status — annually operating with significant budget deficits and having reached the minimum legal budget reserves of 3%. The plan for recovery was simple — significantly reduce costs while building reliable and consistent local revenue streams. The State of California has abdicated its responsibilities in fairly funding districts like San Marino, and it has become clear that we must take control ourselves to ensure the continuity and improvement of our schools for generations to come.

Now, with an anticipated plunge in State revenues associated with the COVID-19 crisis, our needs have become even more critical. “California’s state government will spend about $7 billion on COVID-19 response in 2020, putting strains on the state budget unlike any seen since the Great Recession,” California Finance Department Director Keely Martin Bosler wrote in a letter to state lawmakers on Friday, April 10. Since California relies on a combination of personal income tax, corporate tax, and sales tax to fund infrastructure, schools, and healthcare, we should anticipate a significant downward revision in state and federal funding. What that means for San Marino is a likely 20% or greater reduction in our current revenue streams.

While we continue to reduce expenditures over the coming months, I am asking that every parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, former parent and loved one of a current, future or former student stand with us in this time and BE COUNTED . I am pleading with every community member who understands there is an unequivocal relationship between outstanding schools and high property values to stand with us and BE COUNTED . I am imploring the entire amazing town of San Marino to stand together in this moment and BE COUNTED .

As this crisis unfolds over the coming months and while school districts all around us will engage in draconian measures to reduce costs, there is ONE THING I am confident concerning San Marino…we have the resources in our community to not only survive this devastating time period but to actually THRIVE and become stronger and more self-reliant as a school district. We MUST raise $2.3 Million so that our Board of Education can rescind all 20 teacher and counselor layoffs at its May 12 School Board meeting.

Please take that crucial and right step today by logging-on to the
“WE ARE SAN MARINO” web page and make that sacrificial gift to save our teachers and schools here in this marvelous city.

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!

Warmly,

Dr. Jeff Wilson, Superintendent
San Marino Unified School District