District Budget Update

Every December, the school district is required to submit an interim budget report to the County Office of Education. In that report, the district must include the latest numbers for the current year and project out for two more years. In the current report, the third year, 2012-2013, has a projected deficit of $2.75 million. Significant cuts will need to be made to solve this problem. Since those cuts are not yet built into the budget, the district will have to submit the budget to the County with "qualified" status, and won't be receiving "positive" certification.

This deficit is based on current assumptions about the state budget. But as we speak, California is grappling with a deficit that has grown to nearly $28 billion. It is hard to imagine the legislature solving that budget problem without further cuts to education. One ominous sign is that the Proposition 98 guarantee will once again be reduced. In addition, each of the past two years, our budget crisis has been cushioned by federal stimulus money. With the change in Congressional leadership, no further federal stimulus money can be expected.

In last year's state budget deal, the legislature added $1.7 billion back to the proposed school budget. However, payment of was deferred until next fiscal year. Now, the safe bet is that schools will never see that money. Add to that the $2 billion reduction in the Proposition 98 guarantee, and it is possible that schools will face the loss of another $600 per student.

All of these cuts mean that California continues to shortchange our students. Basic support for K-14 education in California has fallen by $6.6 billion, or 13 percent, since 2007-08. And while every state-funded program needs to absorb cuts during this recession, the rest of the general fund budget, excluding education, has declined by only 0.7 percent. If the cuts described above occur, then cuts to education over the current 5 year period will reach 17 percent. Read more about how schools have taken the lion's share of the budget hit here.