Assistant Superintendent of Business, Justin Frese presented the second interim report – one of two reports fiscal services delivered each year – at Thursday night’s school board meeting. On the plus side, Frese is confident that the district will be financially solvent for the remainder of this year. What remains to be seen, however, is how the district will fair for 2010-2011.
According to Frese, there are many unanswered questions about how basic aid districts will be funded in the coming school year and beyond. That said, the recommendation has come down from the Sonoma County Office of Education that the Sonoma Valley Unified School District should prepare for a hit to categorical funding in the amount of $210 per Average Daily Attendance (ADA) for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.
This reduction, coupled with the 5.81 percent “fair share” reductions made by the state will result in an unplanned increase to the district’s deficit of approximately $800,000 next year and $2,000,000 in 2011-2012. More information on how the district plans to handle this shortfall will be forthcoming. But for now, Frese called the news “discouraging. It’s very disappointing to find that additional cuts are coming.”
In more positive news, school Superintendent Louann Carlomagno discussed a set of goals for her new position. She has already conducted site visits at all of the schools and service departments in the district. Her new blog is up and running on the district web site and she’s made herself available to all stakeholders with questions, concerns of comments. Her vision, providing every possible option for all students graduating from high school whether it be career or college.
Community member Tim Boeve praised Carlomagno for her goals-oriented approach. “I feel very optimistic with you in a leadership position. I challenge the board to ride this sense of opportunity and set some very clear goals for our students.”
The high school principal search is back on again as the chosen candidate from the first round of interviews stepped out of the race. The posted position closes on March 19 with the paper screening to occur immediately and interviews shortly thereafter on March 24. A second round of interviews with cabinet members and the board will take place on March 25.
In other news, Carlomagno disclosed that California had not made the cut for Race to the Top funds but plans to apply again. Additionally, School Accountability Report Cards (SARC) for each school in the district are available on the web site at www.svusdca.org.
Earlier in the evening, the school board took time to honor six classified Employees of the Year including Katie White from Sassarini, Rafael Chavez from Altimira, Barbara McInnis and Irma Pulido from El Verano, Maggie Cunningham from Sonoma Valley High School and Linda Martinelli, a invaluable bus driver for the district since 1975.
