Wiseburn has stayed financially healthy in a time when other school districts are not achieving balanced budgets or budget reserve requirements, or are meeting these requirements by laying off staff and cutting education programs. Our approach to financial solvency has several elements, including cutting expenses away from the classroom, working to achieve education grants (Wiseburn recently received a $500,000 Teaching American History Grant), soliciting donations through our Education Foundation, and adding to our ADA by encouraging permit applications to our district. It is easy to attract permit families to Wiseburn because our schools are strong academic performers, two of our schools are California Distinguished Schools, and we are located in close proximity to the aerospace industry.
Accepting permits at Wiseburn creates a win-win situation for both our resident families and our permit families. Having joined the district originally as a permit family, I have a good understanding of the important community service we provide by accepting permit students. Accepting permits gives families the opportunity to have their children in excellent schools close to their workplace, easing concerns about reaching their children quickly in case of emergency. By adding to our ADA (Average Daily Attendance) and thereby our State funding, accepting permit students supports a strong educational program for all our families.
Recent analysis shows that our permit students score as well or better than our resident students in the California STAR testing and with respect to their comparative grade point averages. An advantage with permit students is that permits are revoked if the student is a discipline problem or an academic poor performer. Consequently, the permit approach allows for augmentation of our general fund while we maintain our strong academic performance.
Wiseburn limits permits to prevent stressing our programs, facilities and staff. Our 2004-2005 ADA was 2028 students, and our 2005-2006 ADA goal is 2075 students. At an ADA of 2075 students Wiseburn remains financially healthy, maintains academic programs and excellence, and our school facilities can support that ADA enrollment.
In the next few years our district will witness unprecedented and significant new housing additions within our boundaries. Housing developments in Areas A and C will add hundreds of new families to our community as part of the US Air Force Base relocation plan. The apartments in the Trammel-Crow development north of the Del Aire community will also add hundreds of new housing units. These new housing units will undoubtedly add new resident students to our enrollment. The beauty of permit students is that as we add resident students via the new housing, we can subtract permit students to keep our enrollment at a financially, academically healthy level.
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