During their long discussion, the board members appeared to agree that the current BUSD program needs to eliminate its cooking classes for now and offer limited gardening classes. The latest proposal called for gardening classes for pre-kindergarten through grade 7 (eliminating grades 8-12). However, board members said they’d also like to fund the garden at Berkeley Technical Academy (which is shared by the Independent Study students), and that will be added to the proposal the board is expected to pass Wednesday, March 26.
But even at a reduced cost of $485,000 for the coming year, with only $178,000 requested in new funding, the board members were very concerned about whether the budget could accommodate the outlay.
“I’m struggling with this,” board member Karen Hemphill said. “We’re having a lot of things come to the board, piecemeal, that are all a priority, that all have their supporters. Nobody here doesn’t love this program.”
The board will be committing to funding only one year right now. Board members recognized that a longer term financial commitment is probably better for attracting major donors. However, with changes in school funding this coming year (the new Local Control Funding Formula from the state), the district is still sorting out priorities for any new monies it gets.
Board members discussed allowing individual PTAs to raise funds supporting cooking classes in their own schools. Hemphill was initially opposed, saying it would create inequalities between the schools. But by the end of the discussion, the board members seemed to agree that if a principal signed off, they were fine with PTA-funded cooking classes.
Another possibility for the future is involvement from the Edible Schoolyard Project which has offered to help run BUSD’s middle school cooking and gardening program once a blueprint for sustainability is in place.
Board president Josh Daniels said he is hoping that a proposed city tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (not just soda) for November’s election, will help fund the cooking and gardening program. The tax — which the City Council has not yet decided to put on the ballot — would bring in an estimated $1.5 million a year, say supporters. That’s less than the $2 million cost of the full cooking and gardening program, and it’s unlikely all the proceeds from the tax would go to the program. A further hurdle is that any funding for the cooking and gardening program would have to be re-approved annually by the city council, if, as expected, the tax is a general tax (which would only require a 50% vote to pass). A special tax, which would segregate the funds for specific uses, requires a two-thirds vote to pass.
Starting March 26 the board moves its meeting location to 2020 Bonar St. Meetings will no longer take place at 2134 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.
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