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Posted on 12/15/2002 9:10:56 PM PST by I_Love_My_Husband
School officials react to Davis budget proposal ADAM KAYE Staff Writer
Local school districts are taking measured steps in response to grim and sweeping budget cuts proposed this week by Gov. Gray Davis.
Responding to $3 billion in proposed education cuts statewide, superintendents from the San Dieguito, Encinitas, Cardiff, Solana Beach and Del Mar school districts have ordered administrators and department heads to scrutinize all spending.
Encinitas Union School District has imposed a hiring freeze; Del Mar Union School District is considering one.
Local officials emphasized the governor's proposal is just that ---- a proposal.
"We won't make final decisions until we see what the Legislature does," said Peggy Lynch, San Dieguito Union High School District's superintendent.
Some districts "reeling"
While the time for discussion, analysis and thrift is immediate, Lynch and neighboring superintendents said, further action hinges upon the Legislature's approval of the reductions. That approval is expected in late January.
All told, Davis has proposed $10.2 billion in cuts over the next 18 months to fill part of a $21 billion shortfall in California's budget.
Local school district officials are bristling that Davis has asked school districts to trim 3.7 percent "across the board" from their budgets.
"We're reeling from it," said Doug DeVore, superintendent of the Encinitas Union School District. "We're reeling from the magnitude, but we're unable to move forward with a plan because we don't know which areas will be affected and by how much."
One known quantity for the Encinitas and San Dieguito districts is a proposal to trim their single biggest revenue source by 2.15 percent.
The squeeze on that so-called "revenue limit" income- ---- state funding based on average daily attendance ---- would cost the Encinitas district $521,419 and the San Dieguito district $1.2 million.
The lion's share of that revenue offsets the cost of staff salaries and benefits, which, in many cases, are secured by contracts and collective bargaining agreements.
The magnitude of the proposed cuts is further complicated by its timing ---- midway through the school year.
By the time lawmakers act upon Davis' proposal, the school year will be more than half over. Officials worry that they may have already spent some revenue they expected but won't get.
If school districts already have received goods and services but have not yet paid for them, "those are things that will be really hard to undo," Kevin Gordon, executive director of the California Association of School Budget Officials.
"You can't unring a bell," Gordon said.
Calling for flexibility
Accordingly, Lynch of the San Dieguito district has asked every department head and manager in the 11,000-student district to "take a good, hard look at what our expenses are."
"We have asked people to slow down," she said.
Slowing down in the Encinitas district means "we're going to scrutinize every purchase and most purchases will be denied," DeVore said.
In his proposal, the governor suggested suspending a requirement that school districts set aside funds in reserve accounts. For most school districts, that reserve amount is 3 percent of anticipated revenue.
In the Cardiff School District, reserves and prudent planning for the next fiscal year would absorb most of the cuts Davis has proposed, Superintendent Rodger Smith said.
"We're not getting real excited until we see what the Legislature does," he said.
Davis also has suggested adding more flexibility to the budgeting of "categorical" funds, which are earmarked for specific programs.
"We would like nothing more than to have total leeway to make it through this year," said Gordon. "The governor has opened the door slightly. We want to push it wide open. The problem is that every categorical program has a constituency group that will scream."
Bumping up class size
One way to reduce up to half the cuts the governor has requested would be to eliminate a state-mandated 20-student cap for kindergarten- through third-grade classes, Gordon said.
The rule forces many districts to start the school year with fewer than 20 students per class in case more youngsters enroll later. That strategy means essentially overstaffing schools but the alternative is worse.
If a school district ---- at any site, at any grade level ---- exceeds the cap, the district can lose all of its state funding for class-size reductions for that grade level, he said.
"It's like the death penalty for jaywalking," Gordon said. "The bottom line is, districts will eliminate class-size reduction. That's going to happen in huge numbers across the state."
Some districts hope for a revised policy that would allow them to maintain an average of 20 students per teacher for a given grade level. That way, districts wouldn't need to hire a new teacher once that 21st child walks into a given classroom, said Ellie Topolovac, Solana Beach School District's superintendent.
"That would really help school districts and still preserve the 20-to-1 average," she said.
Like those of neighboring school districts, Topolovac's financial advisers are examining expenditures.
"I think it's very important that we monitor what's going on," she said, "to be prepared but not overreact."
Being thrifty
That's how Del Mar Union School District will move forward, Superintendent Tom Bishop said.
Bishop will not recommend program cuts when Del Mar's school board meets on Wednesday, he said.
But he is asking that all employees at all levels of the school district be thrifty.
"We didn't say, 'Don't ever use the Xerox machine again,'" he said. "We said anything you can do today to conserve resources, including turning the lights out earlier, will be helpful. Make sure the old pencils are used up."
Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.
Now, the DIMS want to bring back HUGE class sizes!
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calgov2002: for old calgov2002 articles. calgov2002: for new calgov2002 articles. Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register |
Has it helped improve results. I have heard it created a shortage of teachers so they hired unqualified personnel to fill the gap.
The Eureka district just voted to close one elementary school due mostly to declining enrollment. They closed one last year and made it a annex for the high school.
The schools need to tell the 'Rats "screw your under funded mandates" (counties need to do the same thing)
Translation: Normally, we don't care how much taxpayer money we waste, but now, what with the budget crunch and all, guess we better trim some fat.
I hate these edu-crat scumbags.
I thought the figure was now $30 billion?
You, and Wilson, are part of the problem.
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