|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
From a lack of continuity in what’s taught across classrooms to schedules that frequently interrupt learning in core subjects, the Mountain View Whisman School District has multiple areas to improve in order to boost student achievement, according to a report from an outside consultant.
The district brought in Orenda Education to review its programs, and the group presented its findings at a Jan. 7 school board meeting. The program assessment company spent the past few months conducting days-long school site visits, surveying parents and staff, doing deep dives on demographic data and analyzing student achievement.
Orenda’s report comes as Mountain View Whisman prepares to reduce its spending by at least $9 million starting next school year to address stagnating revenues. The looming budget cuts prompted the district to seek outside help in determining what programs are most effective and where cuts can be made with minimal impacts on students. In October, the school board approved a contract to pay Orenda up to $333,563 for that analysis.
While Superintendent Jeff Baier said that Orenda’s findings will help inform the board’s upcoming decisions regarding budget cuts, the report focused mainly on how the district could enhance academic performance, rather than directly recommending where to make cuts.
“[Student achievement] is bigger than the budget,” Baier said. “This information, and more importantly, our subsequent reflections and actions, will outlast our budget challenges. Serving students well means regularly examining what we do, being willing to make changes and staying focused on what helps students thrive.”
District underperforming expected outcomes
Orenda looked at Mountain View Whisman’s academic performance in the context of the district’s demographics, including the proportion of students who are learning English, have disabilities, come from low-income families and have parents with college degrees.
The analysis showed that Mountain View Whisman is less vulnerable than 84% of districts in the state, but that the district performs worse than 99% of similarly vulnerable districts, putting it in the “low achievement” category.
Additionally, the report highlighted that achievement gaps between student groups are widening, grade-level instructional expectations differ among teachers, core academic learning time is diluted by other offerings and transitional times, and the responsibilities of many staff members overlap.
The report concluded that Mountain View Whisman needs to make systemic changes in order to see improvements in student success.
“Not everyone needs the same thing at the same time,” said Scott McGuire, Orenda’s senior director of education services. “When everyone’s going in the same direction with similar data sets, you’re able to more efficiently and nimbly mobilize all of the rich and robust supports that you have at your fingertips to who needs it the most.”
Orenda’s recommendations to the board included creating common assessments that align with state standards and match what is being taught in classrooms; establishing schedules that prioritize uninterrupted blocks of time for instruction in core subjects like English and math; and shifting staffing models to avoid overlapping work.
McGuire emphasized that the shortfalls he highlighted are not the fault of any individual teacher, staff member or administrator, but the result of the systems in place within the district.
After hearing the presentation, board member Devon Conley noted that the board has to make budget decisions soon, but many of Orenda’s recommendations would typically be implemented in a multi-year strategic plan. She asked Baier to clarify what he expects the path ahead to look like.
“Taking action to put us on the right path financially is critical,” Baier said. “That needs to happen in the month of January.”
Baier added that the district should also start planning its vision for the next three-to-five years, which he said can happen concurrently with the budget cuts.
School board prepares to make significant budget cuts
In November, the district decided it needed to trim its budget by at least $9 million annually. The following month, Baier came back to the board to report that administrators were expecting to propose laying off the equivalent of at least 18 full-time employees in the district office, which would save about $4 million annually.
Administrators plan to present finalized recommendations to the board on Jan. 15, with board members slated to make a final verdict on cuts by the end of the month, Baier said.
The reductions are in response to projected budget shortfalls caused by substantially slower growth in property taxes coupled with rising operating costs.
The district is expecting to spend $3.7 million more than it makes this school year, with even greater deficit spending projected for the next two school years if cuts aren’t made, according to a November report to the board.
Mountain View Whisman is primarily funded through local property tax revenue, which is calculated based on assessed property values in the area. For the last six years, the district has enjoyed significant revenue growth, with assessed values increasing an average of 8.79% annually. This year, however, they rose just 2.34% – and the district expects similarly slow growth for the next few years.
'People need to rise up': Mountain View protesters denounce U.S. attack on VenezuelaJanuary 7, 2026 11:55 am