About this site I am currently a Governing Board Member of the San Carlos School District, elected November 2007 and again in November 2011. I created this site to keep in touch with folks who want to know more about what is happening in the District and what it's like to be a Trustee.
Please note that ANY OPINION EXPRESSED HERE IS PURELY PERSONAL AND DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT OFFICIAL POSITIONS OR POLICY OF THE SAN CARLOS SCHOOL DISTRICT NOR THE OPINION OF ANY OF MY COLLEAGUES ON THE BOARD.
I encourage everyone to visit the District web site as well as attend School Board meetings.
Note that I reserve the right to edit, reject, or delete posts based on spelling, grammar, readability, or my judgment of what is appropriate discourse. |
It’s been quite the roller coaster ride this year in terms of the California state budget and its likely effect on education:
- In January, the governor’s budget proposal largely spared education from the budget axe, but it was based on an assumption that the legislature place (and the voters approve) a ballot measure in June extending some existing state taxes.
- Later in January, the school board placed what became known as Measure A on the ballot, to extend the expiring Measure D parcel tax for a vote in May. Failure of this measure would have cost the school district another $1 million per year.
- In March, we began to realize it was unlikely that the legislature was indeed going to place these tax extension measures on the ballot, so we were looking at scenarios where would have to cut $1.3 million from our budget, and more if Measure A failed.
- By the end of March, the talks between the Governor and the legislature officially broke down, and subsequently some analysts in Sacramento were predicting education cuts up to three times more than had been previously suggested!
- By May, predictions were that state budget woes could mean a cut of $2.6 million to our budget, vs. our previously planned $1.3 million.
- On May 3, Measure A passed by an overwhelming margin — 81.5% — the highest margin of any measure in the state. Although this victory didn’t secure more money relative to this year’s budget, it ensured we didn’t lose another $1 million.
- Finally, after the Governor came out with his May revise budget, we learned that, based on his assumptions, there may not be cuts to education at all — but again, this was also predicated on his ability to extend those existing state taxes.
At last night’s board meeting, we were informed that the County is advising school districts to budget assuming a $349/ADA revenue reduction, which, including other federal and miscelaneous cuts, translates into roughly the original $1.3 million that we had used as a target earlier. If, on the chance that state taxes get extended, it’s possible we could recover that money, but we of course don’t if that would happen or when. Therefore, the School Board agreed to stay conservative and budget with those cuts.
Fortunately these cuts won’t make a giant impact on our district, due to two of our old friends — increased enrollment and SCEF. Based on our current enrollment numbers, we will have 70 more students next year — although this causes us problems in other areas such as facilities (more on that in a future post), it does give us more money from the state. Also, SCEF is poised to beat last year’s fundraising of $1.7 million. These two areas alone will likely generate enough revenue to cover half of that budget hole. Another quarter roughly will be covered by cuts at the District office level (including the reduction of one FTE), and the remaining quarter will be covered by some reductions in teaching staff (although none of those will change the programs offered or class sizes).
So, for now, it looks like we won’t be raising class sizes or cutting employees’ salaries. However, we have all learned to be very cautious, and we should prepare for another ride on this roller coaster next year. Hopefully that ride will be less of a screamer.
Three weeks ago, I posted the Superintendent’s note which summarized our budget situation. At the time, the uncertainty over the state budget had estimates of cuts to school districts anywhere from $349/student to $825/student. This would translate to a need to cut another $1.3 mil – $2.6 mil from the San Carlos School District budget.
This week, Governor Brown came out with his “May Revise” budget, which is what school districts normally look toward upon which to base their budgeting. Reading the State budget makes reading Chaucer look like light weekend reading — it takes an army of experts to interpret its effect on school districts like ours.
So, we are still awaiting upon such grand interpretation of the budget, but here’s what it appears the May Revise is proposing:
- No “additional” cuts to education, in fact there is some more money in the budget for K-12 education, but my understanding is that most of this money is just money that was previously scheduled to be “deferred” until after the fiscal year, so this is more of a cash flow timing issue than a real increase to the budget
- The budget is still contingent upon some extension of existing taxes that expire this year. As you may recall, the Governor did not get 2/3 of the state legislature to agree to this for a June election, but he has effectively put the same proposal back into this revised budget. The legislature could extend the taxes on their own for a temporary period of time (with a 2/3 vote) and then bring back another vote to the electorate. We’ll have to wait and see.
All of this tells me that we don’t have a whole lot more information than we had a month or two ago, and we’re going to have to base our budget on a number knowing there is a great deal of uncertainty in it. For example, if we base our budget on the more “optimistic” scenario, and the Governor’s proposals do not pan out, then we could be looking at just making more severe cuts next year. Alternatively, we could be conservative and potentially make unnecessary cuts now. Cuts are definitely happening — it’s just a question of the magnitude of such cuts and their timing.
Again, we will wait on the analysis done by various groups which will help guide our decisions, but I wish I felt more confidence on the path we were are being led. We only have a few board meetings left before we need to finalize our budget, so we’ll be having some interesting discussions!
The Tierra Linda eighth grade band, jazz band, orchestra and the TL 6-8 grade chorus recently travled to Disneyland to compete in the Heritage Music Festival in Anaheim. This is annual trip where our students compete with about 2,000 kids from 30 different schools.
TL took home the biggest prize at the festival, called the “Festival Sweepstakes” award which goes to the school with the most “well-rounded” program! TL also received the “Instrumental Sweepstakes” trophy having the highest combined instrumental scores between band and orchestra. The orchestra won the “Highest Orchestra” trophy, and the TL music groups won these individual awards:
- Orchestra – Gold – 1st Place
- Band – Gold – 2nd Place
- Jazz Band – Silver – 1st Place
- Choir – Silver – 2nd Place
Congratulations to Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Snyder, and Mrs. Murphy, and all of the student musicians for your amazing accomplishment. We are all proud to have such an tremendous music program in this district!
An e-mail from the Superintendent today summarizes well our current predicament:
To the San Carlos School District community,
As many of you know, public education in California is in an unprecedented financial predicament. The State has cut our budget approximately 20% over the last three years and there are more cuts ahead. California, in inflation-adjusted terms, now spends less per student on K-12 education than it did during the Great Depression. While the economy is beginning to rebound, the State’s finances are likely to get worse before they get better.
We started budgeting in January assuming we would need to cover a $1.3 million shortfall relative to this year’s budget (see http://www.sancarlos.k12.ca.us/a-message-about-the-budget-conversation/). That assumed Measure A would pass but the state tax initiatives would fail. We were told the loss of the latter would reduce State funding by $349/student. Though severe, the Board and I hoped to meet this shortfall without increasing class sizes further. We found a way to do this through revenue enhancements, a slight reduction in District level administration, non-personnel cuts and potential salary reductions.
The Legislature passed the governor’s proposed budget cuts but did not put his revenue measures on the ballot. Consequently, half the State deficit, about $12 billion, is unresolved. No one knows how or when this shortfall will be covered. What’s worse, the State is now telling districts its earlier estimate of $349/student is too low, and could be as much as $825/student.
This larger figure would require us to cover an additional $1.3 million shortfall, for a total of $2.6 million. At last week’s Board meeting we began discussing how we would do this. If Measure A does not pass next week the shortfall will be $1 million larger, totaling $3.6 million. That’s roughly 16% of our current budget.
By law, we must finalize our budget by June 30th regardless of whether or not the State has completed its own. Because of the uncertainties, even deciding what to assume for State funding next year will be challenging. We may not know how much money Sacramento will send us until the Fall. We will simply have to make an educated guess and plan for multiple scenarios. Depending on how the State budget process plays out we might have to make significant budget reductions during the next school year.
I know this is sobering news, but it’s important you be kept aware of what we are facing. I am confident that by working together our community and our educators will preserve our highly-regarded educational program. As always, if you have any further questions or suggestions, do not hesitate to contact me or any Board Member.
Regards,
Craig Baker, Ed.D.
Superintendent
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