Posted by Rolling in money, a resident of the Birdland neighborhood, on Mar 12, 2013 at 9:10 am

Great news for the district!

Posted by Fair is Fair, a resident of the Mission Park neighborhood, on Mar 12, 2013 at 9:27 am

Great news! Now let's be smart with it. Momma always told me - save 20% of whatever you earn for that rainy day. Let's squirrel away as much as we can and then get whatever school programs were cut during the downturn back on track to make our schools world class...

There's a reason why when we say we live in Pleasanton, the first reaction from people is, "You have such good schools."

Posted by thank goodness, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Mar 12, 2013 at 9:31 am

This year has been difficult, hopefully the school hours and class sizes will go back to where they were last year and as people say, save some for a rainy day.

Posted by Julia, a resident of another community, on Mar 12, 2013 at 10:16 am

Why not just give it all to the teachers....NOT

People, keep feeding the Starving Beast and they will keep coming for more. Wake up People

Julia Pardini from Alamo

Posted by Kathleen Ruegsegger, a resident of the Vintage Hills Elementary School neighborhood, on Mar 12, 2013 at 12:22 pm
Kathleen Ruegsegger is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com

You can't talk about hefty balances without talking about hefty unfunded liabilities.

What I hope is that teachers, classified staff, and administrators at the sites (no raises for any top administrators at the district office) get one-time, off the salary schedule bonuses. That won't be as easy as it seems because top administrators have me too clauses that entitle them to whatever they negotiate with the unions (often on top of built in annual raises with satisfactory evaluations) (foxes watching the hen house). It rewards those working with students who have had no raises in quite some time without adding to long-term commitments at a point when no one is absolutely certain what other impacts are in the offing (California or D.C.).

Posted by Bring back!, a resident of the Birdland neighborhood, on Mar 12, 2013 at 7:29 pm

Bring back class size reduction! Give our teachers raises! Time to make Pleasanton schools the envy of the Bay Area again!

Posted by payoffdebt, a resident of the Birdland neighborhood, on Mar 12, 2013 at 11:25 pm

why are they even talking about bonuses and raises? How did they get a $12million surplus?

Pay back your debt, and unfunded liabilities first....and then save some for another bad fiscal year (instead of raising our taxes again...cough, cough Prop 30)

p.s. if the administrators get a raise, will it be taxed at the highest rate 39.6% because it's annualized...like everyone else???

Posted by Evan Roode, T.E.A., a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Mar 13, 2013 at 12:51 am

I don't like the idea of paying off the debt. That debt is our most strategic asset for criticizing teachers, teachers' unions, administrators who are in cahoots with unions, and pols who are in cahoots with both. Pay off the debt and all we'll be left with is perceived whining about how our tax money is taken from us for socialist public education.

Posted by Kathleen Ruegsegger, a resident of the Vintage Hills Elementary School neighborhood, on Mar 13, 2013 at 7:41 am
Kathleen Ruegsegger is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com

Ever Rude, It's easy to be supportive of public education, students, teachers, and administrators at the site and still be aware of the financial problems, many of them created by those at the district office--problems that have made certain that none of the most deserving have gotten a monetary acknowledgement (some districts have still managed to give off-the-salary schedule bonuses).

Posted by Evan Roode T.E.A., a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Mar 13, 2013 at 9:10 am

I do not appreciate the name calling. The above post should be flagged as being uncouth and dishonest.

Additionally, I agree it's easy to appear supportive. Of course, appearances and facts often do not mesh well together.

Posted by Kathleen Ruegsegger, a resident of the Vintage Hills Elementary School neighborhood, on Mar 13, 2013 at 9:36 am
Kathleen Ruegsegger is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com

As of this year, checks have to be written to the district rather than directly to the teacher. Do a public information request at the DO.

Posted by anon, a member of the Walnut Grove Elementary School community, on Mar 13, 2013 at 4:17 pm

We've got to increase staffing at our elementary schools. The playgrounds have too many unsupervised children and are unsafe.

Posted by john, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Mar 13, 2013 at 10:15 pm

I agree with anon, and I think we need to hire more teachers to get class sizes back down, at least in kindergarten and first grade.