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California State University at Long Beach, Long Beach City College and Long Beach Unified School District have faced severe rise in tuition fee due to the recent economic recession and consequent state budget crisis.

The year 2010 saw class sizes being increased even as offerings reduced, layoffs were ordered, furloughs instituted and programs were slashed. The bright spot at Long Beach was the way in which teachers and administrators stood strong in their leadership and initiative to offer more for less in keeping with the demand of the situation.

A budgetary shortfall of $57 million was projected for the fiscal year 2010-2011 to balance which at least 200 employees including teachers had been laid off. From kindergarten to third grade, sizes of the classes were increased to balance the teacher layoffs. As compared to previous years, classrooms now have five extra students with the average per teacher going up to 25 from 20.

Initially, there was a heightened hope among the district officials with the Race to the Top program that aimed at enhancing educational reform. Schools in California however lost in both the rounds and thereby received no grant money.

Long Beach Unified School District or LBUSD, though not chosen in the Race to the Top program, used the proposals for education reforms initiated in the Race to the Top state application, to build upon through a nonprofit organization.

Supported by various foundations to the tune of $3 million, the CORE or California Office of Educational Reform was announced in the month of October. The roadmap laid out for the Race to the Top initiative will be followed by CORE which will revamp the education system in the state.

Efforts towards this will include developing powerful evaluation systems to ensure that best teachers are principals administer the running of every single school in the state. The LBUSD was also chosen by McKinsey and Company in the month of November as one of the best educational reform leaders and was placed among the top twenty school systems by this global management consulting firm.

Impact of budget cuts in the state were mitigated to a great extent by the community schools by helping needy children with uniforms apart from giving makeovers to schools and donating equipment liberally to after-school programs.

At Long Beach, the first Arts Education Summit was held in the month of March in a build to garner support for programs that face extinction such as the arts. This event was originally conceptualized to link non profits, businesses and schools to form strategic new alliances.

According to Craig Watson, the Executive Director of Arts Council, schools definitely need the help of teachers, parents, education leaders, community and business community to achieve this as they cannot do it alone.

Another significant achievement of LBUSD is the commencement of six thousand graduates which the district celebrated in spring. Setting a new record for the district, at least $51million was offered in scholarships to these graduates. Narrowing achievement gap, LBUSD made significant advancement in academic achievements according to the API and AYP scores announced in September.