School board approves drastic budget cuts

Tuesday night’s special school board meeting was nothing if not wholly depressing. Assistant Superintendent of Business, Justin Frese doled out the bad news by way of a PowerPoint presentation that had audience members wincing slide-by-slide. By Frese’s own definition, the situation is “very serious.”
“This is a historical time for us as the situation at hand is unprecedented and we have nothing to look at for guidance,” said Frese as he discussed the $4 million working deficit for the 2090-2010 school year. “We were already working with a deficit but with recent cuts to education, we have no choice but to conduct layoffs just to hold ourselves together.”
Frese was poised to sketch out a dismal picture of the coming year and, even more appalling, retroactive cuts for the 2008-2009 school year. But before he could levy the boom, the board took time to give a resounding thank you and goodbye to student trustee, Ethan Cohen. Cohen had kept the board on its toes with his candor and sense of humor, always drawing from personal experience whenever possible. For his year of service he received a San Francisco State “Gator’s” hoodie sweatshirt and wishes of good luck from each board member as well as Superintendent Pam Martens.
Returning to the budget, as proposed, state funding cuts include a $75 per student reduction, retroactive for last year and a $562 reduction per student for 2009-2010. California currently ranks 47th in the country for per-pupil spending but this most recent news had audience members wondering how low California could actually go.
The $4 million working deficit for 2009-2010 includes the following:
$217,000 adopted deficit
$2,300,800 “Fair Share” cut for 2009-2010
$115,612 transportation cut
$1,281,497 tax drop
The proposed plan of action to accommodate the level of cuts is fairly drastic, with initial budget changes that include the dismissal of additional full-time employees and a shift in vice principals from the high school to one of the middle schools. These first steps would garner a savings of $772,000.
Further personnel reductions include cuts to transportation, custodial and grounds staff; a one-time reduction in the RRM contribution for a net gain of $300,000; and removing the annual two percent raise for all employees, netting $365,000 per year.
Class size reduction would be maintained for kindergarten, first and second grades while staffing third grade with a teacher-to-student ratio of 28:1. Also proposed was the elimination of two counseling positions, saving $134,008. These actions add up as such:
$772,000 first budget changes
$987,000 further reductions
$512,091 tax projection adjustment
$539,091 program changes
These changes would result in a savings of $2,810,689 – a figure that is still $1,290,471 shy of the proposed cuts.
Unfortunately, before the dust settles on the bad news, things could get even worse. Sacramento must approve the new state budget, a move that is supposed to take approximately 60 days, and once the numbers from the capitol are more concrete, the school district can act more concisely, perhaps cutting even more deeply.
“We know the cuts are going to be big,” said Frese. “We’re just unclear on what flavor and complexity they’ll take. We need to wait and see.”
Board member Helen Marsh didn’t like the sound of that last comment and wondered whether it could be worse in two months rather than better.
“We are at the point where two major things will be affected: our ability to offer high quality programs and our ability to meet the promises we’ve made to our employees,” said Marsh. “If we raid our rainy day funds, aren’t we being a little reckless? The rules are changing very quickly.”
Board member Nicole Abate Ducarroz zeroed in on immediate ways to save money such as an energy and water savings plan proposed by Frese. Piggybacking off the success of the solar installation at Woodland Star, Ducarroz suggested rolling the concept out district-wide. Frese picked up on the idea, saying the district would be remiss if they didn’t pilot programs that would offer savings in this area, considering they easily spend close to a half-million dollars annually on energy.
As the meeting began to wind down, employees from the transportation department voiced their dismay at cuts that seemed to them to always hit classified employees first. Martens replied that when cuts happen, the district makes every attempt to share the burden fairly.
Finally, Ducarroz brought the meeting to an end by making what she called a “very unpopular motion” to allow Frese the flexibility to move forward with the proposal put on the table that evening. Board member Gary DeSmet seconded the motion and the public portion of the meeting was adjourned, while the board reconvened for more closed session discussions concerning personnel.