Hard times loom for schools

Posted: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 9:09 am

Hard times loom for schools By Mike Taylor Calaveras Enterprise

Whether or not one or both of the state ballot measures pass in November, at least one Calaveras County school district is facing a dismal future bereft of football games and students playing musical instruments.

In July, Calaveras Unified School District trustees were told when they approved their 2012-2013 budget that it was tenuous at best. District administrators were able to show that they could pay CUSD’s bills for the 2012-13 school year and the following two years, as is required by law. But as Calaveras County Office of Education officials looked over the $26 million spending plan, they wanted more details describing how cuts to spending could be achieved at the county’s only kindergarten through 12th-grade district.

It’s important to note that school districts in California are required to prove to state officials that they can meet their obligations for each budget year and the subsequent two, but the Legislature and governor only have to pass a single-year spending plan each July. This creates havoc on balance sheets up and down the state as school finance experts have to plan for those subsequent two years with virtually nothing but air to rely upon.

As the economy has worsened and state officials have failed to cut spending, they have continued to reduce education funding and have deferred payment of funds due to schools year after year. School district business managers either have very little information with which to plan or none at all when it comes to those “out years.”

Compounding the cuts it has experienced is the fact that CUSD is still seeing fewer and fewer students in its classrooms, which further reduces the amount of money it receives from the state.

Titia Ashby, the district’s director of business services, said Thursday that as CUSD’s spending plan sits today, trustees must tear nearly $2 million from their budget by the 2013-2014 fiscal year so that their reserves are bolstered for the final of the “out years,” the 2014-2015 school year. If the cuts are achieved, the final year of the plan could actually see “extra” money in the 2014-15 budget year of just over $100,000. With the revised budget, Ashby said district reserves would be at about 6.5 percent in ’14-’15. The state only requires school districts to maintain a 3 percent reserve, but that amount wouldn’t even make a month’s payroll at the county’s largest school district.

To attain the almost $2 million in savings, trustees must decide whether to cut all athletic programs in the district; remove music classes from all schools and lay off at least 13 teachers over the budget’s “out years.” Also on the list: one of the district’s alternative high schools would be shuttered and Rail Road Flat Elementary School must close.

If the ballot measures fail in November, Calaveras Unified will have to trim an additional $1.398 million from its budget next year alone.

“The items on the list of cuts are not altogether new, as we have been discussing them over the last three years throughout the fiscal challenges we have faced,” says a memo Superintendent Mark Campbell presents to trustees tonight at their regular meeting. “However, they are painful to consider as possible realities and we have to be prepared for a worst-case scenario. Closing small schools, reducing staff/increasing class sizes and eliminating athletics and band programs tear at the very fabric of what we have built and been able to sustain, but as we continue to experience decreasing revenues, increasing costs to operate and continued declining enrollment, we have to engage in difficult discussions leading to agonizing decisions regarding devastating cuts to programs and people.

“The list of areas where decisions need to be made, and the need to make cuts in those areas, was meant to be a two-year process (cuts to be made from 2013 to 2015),” Campbell continues. “However, given current fiscal conditions, in order to be able to build and project a ‘positive’ budget over the next three years, we had to build all of the proposed cuts to staff and program into the 2013/2014 year.”

That’s the plan right now, but a lot can change over the next several months, Campbell cautioned.

“What will impact this plan, either positively or negatively, will be the results of the November elections (Propositions 30 and 38), the governor’s proposed budget in January (which has to address a significant deficit no matter the outcome of the election), and the May budget revision leading to the adopted state budget in June.”

“There is tremendous uncertainty about our fiscal future, in areas both in and out of our control,” Campbell continues. “We have to prepare for numerous scenarios, position ourselves to be able to effectively react when any given scenario becomes reality and make the decisions necessary based upon definitive conditions we find ourselves in. Making sure our district is fiscally solvent (short- and long-term) is critical. It will not be easy, but communication and collaboration are essential to maintain as we collectively navigate the road ahead. Staying connected and remembering that our jobs are to serve students, to support each other and to hold onto as much as we can to protect all that is great about CUSD” are of utmost importance.

Ashby presents an update on the budget at tonight’s meeting at 5 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Valley Springs Elementary School, 240 Pine St., Valley Springs. Trustees are holding their meetings at CUSD schools this fall. Trustees also meet for a study session at 9 a.m. Saturday at the district office, 3304-B Highway 12, between San Andreas and Valley Springs, to discuss the budget and other goals and areas of focus.

Contact Mike Taylor at mtaylor@calaverasenterprise.com.