School Board Notes 6.20.06
School Board Notes 6.20.06
Committee of the Whole Budget Discussion
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent
Good News, Bad News For Next Year's Budget
The proposed budget for the next school year as presented to the BOE's Committee of the Whole Tuesday includes $3 million more than originally projected but still includes close to $6 million in cuts, including a 1 percent reduction to the weighted student formula and cuts in funding for child care programs, special ed, transportation and nutrition. The Board is scheduled to take a final vote on the budget at its regular board meeting next Tuesday.
In May, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged $2.8 billion more to schools in Proposition 98 funds, which could translate to millions more for SFUSD. However, those funds are too uncertain to figure into the proposed budget for 06/07, which must be adopted by the Board next week. What is certain is a larger-than-expected increase to the cost-of-living adjustment in funding from the state. That increase has enabled the district to add $3 million to the budget, and to shave its projected deficit for the following year (07/08) from $12 million to $5.8 million.
Even with that money however, the proposed budget includes $5.8 million in cuts to cover a shortfall in unrestricted funds (those not earmarked for specific uses) and maintain a required reserve of two percent of its operating budget. It also includes $2.5 million saved from school closures, mergers and relocations, and $4.3 million in one-time revenues from a long-term lease with City College for some of the space made available by the relocations (specifically, Newcomer and Downtown high schools). Still, Board members appeared to agree that this year's budget decisions were less painful than last year's, when the Board made its school closure decisions in conjunction with balancing the budget.
Highlights of the Proposed Budget:
The reduction in transportation costs comes from changing start times at five pre-K programs to 9:30 from 8:30. The district pays less to Laidlaw, its bus service contractor, if the buses are run during off hours. Child care services have been reduced at Cobb, Drew and Kate Kennedy child development centers. A number of speakers appeared to decry layoffs of 48 people, the equivalent of 25 full time equivalents.
Commissioner Dan Kelly noted that many of these people may be able to be reinstated. "Last year, we were able to offer positions to everybody who was laid off, but you can't count on that when you do the budget."
District Officials Hopeful for More State Funding
District officials discussed how the Governor's pledge of $2.8 billion for schools might affect SFUSD's coffers. The pledge of $2.8 billion more for schools involves one-time payments to redress a backlog of money it owes to school districts for unfunded mandates, measures required by the state for which districts have had to foot the bill. If the monies were divided up according to the share of the state's public school students in the district, it would amount to about $28 million in new funds. However, the district has currently only recorded some $6 to $9 million in monies spent to carry out state mandates.
The Governor's proposal also puts the vast majority of the proposed funds into restricted funds that could only be used for specific purposes, including categorical programs for arts and music, physical education, instructional materials and counselors at the middle and high school levels. The legislature is trying to increase the flexibility in how the funds could be spent by putting over $1 billion in block grants, which could be used for a variety of purposes.
Both the Governor and the Legislature appear to support a move to give the funds to individual schools more than the district, according to Leigh. He said was hopeful that the Prop 98 funds would cover, if not exceed, the cuts made to the Weighted Student Formula. The district will not know if more money is coming, however, until after the State adopts its budget at the end of this month. If the money in unrestricted funds significantly exceeds what was projected, it will be up to the Board to decide whether those funds remain in the coffers to help cover next years deficit or are used to restore funding cuts.
Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net
Committee of the Whole Budget Discussion
By Nicole Achs Freeling
GreatSchools.net Correspondent
Good News, Bad News For Next Year's Budget
The proposed budget for the next school year as presented to the BOE's Committee of the Whole Tuesday includes $3 million more than originally projected but still includes close to $6 million in cuts, including a 1 percent reduction to the weighted student formula and cuts in funding for child care programs, special ed, transportation and nutrition. The Board is scheduled to take a final vote on the budget at its regular board meeting next Tuesday.
In May, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged $2.8 billion more to schools in Proposition 98 funds, which could translate to millions more for SFUSD. However, those funds are too uncertain to figure into the proposed budget for 06/07, which must be adopted by the Board next week. What is certain is a larger-than-expected increase to the cost-of-living adjustment in funding from the state. That increase has enabled the district to add $3 million to the budget, and to shave its projected deficit for the following year (07/08) from $12 million to $5.8 million.
Even with that money however, the proposed budget includes $5.8 million in cuts to cover a shortfall in unrestricted funds (those not earmarked for specific uses) and maintain a required reserve of two percent of its operating budget. It also includes $2.5 million saved from school closures, mergers and relocations, and $4.3 million in one-time revenues from a long-term lease with City College for some of the space made available by the relocations (specifically, Newcomer and Downtown high schools). Still, Board members appeared to agree that this year's budget decisions were less painful than last year's, when the Board made its school closure decisions in conjunction with balancing the budget.
Highlights of the Proposed Budget:
- Total revenues including county programs: $740 million.
- New revenues as of May revise: $3 million
- Projected unrestricted general fund revenues: $356 million
- Projected expenditures (including proposed cuts): $334.3 million
- Beginning unrestricted general fund balance: $10.1 million
- Ending balance: $10.6 million
- 1 percent reduction to the Weighted Student Formula, for a savings of close to $2 million
- $1.2 million reduction in special education
- $800,000 reduction in child development services
- $800,000 reduction to transportation services
- 500,000 reduction in funding for the student nutrition program.
- $500,000 reduction to central office staff
The reduction in transportation costs comes from changing start times at five pre-K programs to 9:30 from 8:30. The district pays less to Laidlaw, its bus service contractor, if the buses are run during off hours. Child care services have been reduced at Cobb, Drew and Kate Kennedy child development centers. A number of speakers appeared to decry layoffs of 48 people, the equivalent of 25 full time equivalents.
Commissioner Dan Kelly noted that many of these people may be able to be reinstated. "Last year, we were able to offer positions to everybody who was laid off, but you can't count on that when you do the budget."
District Officials Hopeful for More State Funding
District officials discussed how the Governor's pledge of $2.8 billion for schools might affect SFUSD's coffers. The pledge of $2.8 billion more for schools involves one-time payments to redress a backlog of money it owes to school districts for unfunded mandates, measures required by the state for which districts have had to foot the bill. If the monies were divided up according to the share of the state's public school students in the district, it would amount to about $28 million in new funds. However, the district has currently only recorded some $6 to $9 million in monies spent to carry out state mandates.
The Governor's proposal also puts the vast majority of the proposed funds into restricted funds that could only be used for specific purposes, including categorical programs for arts and music, physical education, instructional materials and counselors at the middle and high school levels. The legislature is trying to increase the flexibility in how the funds could be spent by putting over $1 billion in block grants, which could be used for a variety of purposes.
Both the Governor and the Legislature appear to support a move to give the funds to individual schools more than the district, according to Leigh. He said was hopeful that the Prop 98 funds would cover, if not exceed, the cuts made to the Weighted Student Formula. The district will not know if more money is coming, however, until after the State adopts its budget at the end of this month. If the money in unrestricted funds significantly exceeds what was projected, it will be up to the Board to decide whether those funds remain in the coffers to help cover next years deficit or are used to restore funding cuts.
Email comments to sfschoolnotes@greatschools.net
Labels: GreatSchools.net, School Board Notes, SFUSD Politics, Special Education
1 Comments:
Looking over the budget …
First, the .pdf budget documents on sfusd’s website should be searchable and the document security settings should be modified so we are able to copy and extract relevant segments of it, to make it easier for us to make sense if it.
The purported cut to Special education is supposed to be 1.2 million but the actual difference to 06/07 Department 56’s (Special Education) budget from 05/06 is almost 2.4 million less. This will no doubt be explained away by claims of numbers shifted elsewhere, but it should be explained. A 1.2 million dollar cut to that department represents 20% of the targeted 6 million dollars in desired cuts – that was unfair enough, considering special education students make up less than 10% of SFUSD’s student population … if the cuts are, in fact 2.4 million, that’s really atrocious – having Special education take 40% of the carnage.
OK, perhaps cuts must be made to the budget but SHARE THE PAIN and spread the cuts over all the district departments equally.
Jill Wynns claimed that the cuts are justified because there are fewer children enrolled in special education than there were last year, (but failed to produce an actual number to substantiate her claim). Even so -- instead of special education being 10% of the student population they are, for instance -- now 9% -- would that not make the 20% share of the 6 million from Special Education even more disparate? More unfair? Sure seems that way to me.
Myong Leigh referred to the cuts to Special Education as "nothing more than a haircut". To a child with autism whose much-needed paraprofessional classroom support is taken away – I think it would seem like much more than a haircut, it will be devastating.
The district is targeting those who can least afford the cuts in services the most -- students in Special Education programs. It’s easy to do, we parents of children with special needs are an easy target – we don’t have much time to lobby and get squeaky and defend our children’s programs. I think stomping on Special Education services it is a cheap shot. (or not so cheap –as the case may be).
Some of you will you argue that Special Education is already an “encroachment” or an “unfunded mandate” -- my response to that is -- that a business, if owed money, does all it can to collect the money that is owed to it before dismissing employees or shutting its doors. Instead of cutting the Special Education budget they should be doing more to get the Feds to fully fund I.D.E.A., and at the same time lobby the state government to return the special ed COLA they’ve sneakily bifucurated.
I also wonder why they’ve cut the Special Education budget by 1.2 (or perhaps 2.4 million dollars, actually) --yet, at the same time, INCREASED Department 200- the Chief Financial Officer’s budget by 3.7 million.
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