Editorial: Tamiscal, San Andreas decision will be tough call for Tam District board

Tamalpais Union High School District trustees got an earful from students, teachers and parents opposed to proposed cuts at its two alternative campuses, Tamiscal and San Andreas.

More than 100 people attended the board meeting last month, an unusually large turnout which included many who spoke that the proposed cuts would hurt the two small, although important programs.

Tamiscal offers programs such as independent study and career-path curriculum. San Andreas is a program for students who have struggled to progress at the district’s three larger campuses.

The trustees are scheduled to make a decision at their meeting on Tuesday.

This has been a quick-brewed controversy, one that might deserve more time to explore possible options that meet the district’s budget-cutting goal without hampering these alternative programs.

The district faces a structural budget deficit and has to cut $2.2 million from its annual budget.

Among the reasons is declining enrollment, where districtwide enrollment at its five campuses has fallen from 5,127 students in 2019-20 to a projected 4,217 pupils in the 2026-27 school year.

That 14% slide has led to staff reductions at its three larger campuses – Archie Williams in San Anselmo, Redwood in Larkspur and Tamalpais in Mill Valley.

The district is also projecting a downturn in local property tax revenue, its primary source of annual income.

Superintendent Courtney Goode, who recently joined the district, said the enrollment declines at San Andreas and Tamiscal have been even greater – 36% – without any significant reduction in staffing. He added that enrollment at the two programs fluctuates during the school year.

Still, the schools are tiny by comparison with the three larger campuses. The two Larkspur-based programs have about 150 students – 120 at Tamiscal and 31 at San Andreas.

Speakers from the public at the November hearing warned the proposed cuts would hurt programs and limit faculty support for what one Tamiscal teacher called “the district’s most vulnerable and struggling students.”

Over the years, Marin educators have typically strived to keep budget cuts as far away from classroom programs as possible.

That’s not always possible.

But possible alternatives to such cuts, by consolidating administration or even possibly coming up with similar countywide programs in order to reduce district costs, deserve to be explored.

Merging the administration of the two programs might help meet the budget demand.

District trustees need to feel comfortable that the budget reductions and the changes they will bring will not undermine the important work and goals of the two programs which are a recognition that conventional high school classes and programs do not work for every pupil. Meeting that objective while also being fiscally responsible is the challenge – one that school trustees often grapple with, even with the support of local voter-approved taxes.

Alternative programs are costly, but the cost of not meeting the needs of those students is even greater and potentially longer-lasting.

Trustees face a difficult decision. Critics of the proposed cuts need to be pragmatic and offer some alternative proposals other than calling the district’s budgetary problems a “fake crisis.”

Their passion for the programs offered at San Andreas and Tamiscal is impressive and a reflection of their success.

Given the sizable reduction in enrollment, some corresponding cuts are in order. The district can’t limit its budget cuts to the three larger campuses.

But the ramifications of those cuts need to be clear to all sides before the trustees make their decision.

Given the brief period of time this proposal has been publicly aired, there may be good reason to slow down to see if there are any other viable options that will not hurt those programs while also meeting the district’s fiscal responsibility.