As you may recall, school districts were bailed out at the last minute for this year in the state budget process. K-12 education funding was kept flat from 2010-2011 to 2011-2012. That allowed Berryessa to avoid having to implement cuts that we had been discussing for much of the spring.
Since the state was unable to secure any guaranteed new revenues, the budget bailout was based on a projection of about $4 billion in increased revenue resulting from an improving economy. The caveat in the final agreement was that if revenues fell short of the projected level, automatic cuts would be triggered midway through the budget year, in January 2012. If updated projections show the state falling up to $2 billion short, cuts will be made to state unversities, child care, and health programs. If revenues fall more than $2 billion short, K-12 education face cuts of up to $1.9 billion. The full level of cuts would mean a reduction of about $250 per student in the current year. For Berryessa, that would create an additional hole of over $2 million.
Based on revenue reports from the first quarter of the fiscal year, it does not look like the state will meet the optimistic budget projections they made in June. The likelihood that the state will fall short by the entire $4 billion is growing as the economic recovery remains very slow.
The cuts are supposed to be automatic based on certain state budget triggers, at the discretion of Governor Brown. I asked one of our Assembly members last week whether the Governor would pull the trigger by himself or consult with the legislature first. I was told that while the Governor would have the authority to make the cuts on his own, he would likely confer with our representatives first. Perhaps adjustments will be made so that schools won't take as big of a hit.
When our Board adopted this year's budget, we prepared for the possibility of midyear cuts by setting aside enough money to cover the shortfall without having to change our course in the middle of the year. But if we end up spending that money in the current year, the district faces tough decisions on what to cut from our budget next year in order to remain solvent. We could be in for a bumpy ride if current budget projections are correct.
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4 comments:
If the worst case comes to pass will the district cut bases on the priorities that were established last year. Increased class size in K-8, close libraries etc. I think this was covered in your Jan blog.
Also, what your view of our ability to pass another bond measure to increase funding?
Should we ask families to provide $250 each?
I think our priorities would come out the same as before if cuts become necessary. But I am hopeful that we will be able to get through the next few years relying only on a combination of class size increase (K-3) and some number of furlough days.
You raise a good point about the need to go back to voters to extend our parcel tax. We only have 2 years left and then our current parcel tax (Measure W) expires. So I believe we will be going to the voters in November 2012. A decision will have to be made about how much we think we can get. We'd have to do polling to decide if we can go much higher than the current $79 per parcel level. I doubt we'd be able to get the votes for $250 (needs 2/3), but I'd like to think we can get $10-$20 per year more than the $79 we currently receive.
I have an idea. Maybe the district can close several elementary schools and move students to a bigger school. With less compus, we can save maintaince fees. And maybe the site could also be rent out and get some revenue.
For example, Toyon has much less students than other schools, the district may be able to distribute the students to other schools in the district.
This suggestion can save more than just closing library or courses.
Thanks for the suggestion. We have had conversations about closing a school, but as you can imagine, it is a very emotional subject for people who support their neighborhood school. If things get worse, I believe the board will only entertain the subject if enough of the public comes to us (via email or at meetings) and supports studying it.
The savings for closing a single school is about $300,000 per year. That doesn't include rent, which could be significant, but it would probably take a couple years to find a tenant.
Given our district's current capacity, I don't think we have the classroom space to close more than 1 school (if even that). Several of our sites are at capacity now. Once we have the funds to drop class size back to it's previous level, we will have to utilize most of the currently empty classrooms.
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