SCENES FROM THE FIRST DAY—Clockwise from top left: Royal High School freshman Christian Laramie, 14, raises his hand high to answer a question in English teacher Judy Haren’s class on Wednesday morning. Students compare schedules during a break after their first class. Freshman Matt Carter, 14, also in Haren’s class, writes down his name and previous year’s grades. Superintendent Kathryn Scroggin had a message for parents and students of Simi Valley Unified School District.

“Things at our schools will not be the same this year,” Scroggin said at the board of trustees’ first meeting of the school year on Aug. 11.

State budget cuts have left district leaders to make tough decisions—increasing class sizes, eliminating busing and cutting teachers.

SVUSD will save $1.2 million by increasing kindergarten through third-grade class sizes from 20 students per teacher to 24.

The district also increased class sizes in the middle schools and high schools by one student per class, saving $1.3 million. The average secondary school class was 35 students, with a maximum of 36. Those numbers have increased to 36 and 37.

The district will also save $288,000 by eliminating ninth-grade English class-size reduction caps, going from 20 students per class to 36 or 37 per class.

Another big cut—and what some are calling a big inconvenience for parents—is the elimination of home-to-school transportation for elementary and middle school students, not including the more than 450 special education students.

Nearly 900 other students rode the buses to and from school last year, a luxury that has now been eliminated.

The cut saved the district $387,700, according to Lowell Schultze, associate superintendent of business services.

John Burns, the district’s transportation director, said everything went “very smoothly” the first day of school. He said he only received four calls from parents who weren’t aware of the change.

Burns said he sent out letters telling every parent of student bus riders of the dilemma in late June, giving them plenty of time to arrange car pools.

“We tried to give as much heads up to parents as we could, and it looked like it worked,” Burns said.

He also spoke with the city’s transit department over the summer about sending out additional buses to accommodate an increase in riders.

Burns assured parents that the city bus drivers are highly trained just as the school bus drivers were, and that two-way radios are on board in case of an emergency.

DROP OFF—With the district forced to cut home-to-school bus transportation for all but special education students, more Simi Valley pupils will be getting a ride from mom and dad this year. “The safety will be in the increased ridership,” said Burns in an e-mail. “The more students that ride, the better.”

Burns said he went out to school sites as they were releasing students on Wednesday, the district’s first day of school, and the parking lots “didn’t look too much more crowded than usual.”

He also contacted the city about police enforcement during higher traffic times.

“They’ll be making sure everyone is safe and obeying laws,” Burns said.

In some good news for the district, Schultze said declining enrollment seems to be slowing. SVUSD is expected to be down 122 students this year, which is less than the 225 it was down the year before. In 2007, the district was down 270.

“Our projections show that declining enrollment is decreasing, but we are still in declining enrollment,” Schultze said. “The decrease in numbers is not as high. It’s slowing down.”

There were many changes in district administration this year, including three new principals.

Brenda Montaine is the new principal at Abraham Lincoln Elementary and Donna Stapleton will now be heading up Sycamore Elementary. Charles Housewright is the new principal at Simi Valley Adult School and Career Institute.

At the district office, Lynn Friedman is now the director of elementary education and curriculum and instruction, and Bill Waxman is the director of secondary education and special programs.