CUSD Update

LAYOFFS IN THE WORKS

The Daily Bulletin reports that the Claremont Unified School District intends to send out 30 preliminary layoff notices. The notices will go out by March 15, according to the article, and the exact number of layoffs will be announced at the March 4 CUSD Board of Education meeting.

ENROLLMENT UP

Did anyone else catch the blurb in yesterday's Claremont Courier about the increase in CUSD enrollment over the past 10 years? The Courier reported that CUSD saw an increase from 6,625 to 7,044 since the 2000-01 school year. The article also said that interdistrict transfer students increased in the same period from 787 to 1,200.

What the article failed to note that was enrollment from within the CUSD boundaries has remained flat for the last decade despite an increase in the number of houses and condominiums in town. According to the numbers cited in the Courier, overall CUSD enrollment was up 419 students, of which 413 came from outside the district.

In other words, 17 percent of CUSD students live outside the district's area. This would seem to argue against new facilities, though we fully expect CUSD to spin the numbers into a need for a new school construction bond.