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| School News:
03/01/2009
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School funding scenarios a moving target
Though the State of California has finally reached a budget deal, the Kenwood School District and Dunbar School’s Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) must still wait and see what exactly the effects will be on budgets and programs. “The information comes in drips and drabs,” said SVUSD Board of Trustee member Dan Gustafson at a Feb. 24 informational meeting at Altimira Middle School, “We sometimes feel as uniformed as you do. This is an unprecedented situation.” And another wild card in the budgeting process is what monies, if any, will be available from the federal government’s stimulus package. Some things, though, are coming into focus now, as the state has decided on specific cuts in restricted funds (also known as categorical programs), a cut of 15.4 percent in fiscal year 2008-09, and another 4.9 percent next fiscal year. How exactly those cuts play out will be in the hands of the trustees and administrators in both school districts. Examples of programs that might be affected include English language learner services, professional development for staff, and money for instructional materials. “We are working with the board to come up with a fiscal plan to try and maintain as many programs as we can,” said Kenwood School District Superintendent/Principal Bob Bales. Bales said that funds from the Kenwood Education Foundation’s fundraising efforts will become increasingly important in the upcoming years. Bales estimates an enrollment of between 145-155 students next school year, and that the school will maintain its current level of staffing and eight classrooms. The district’s current budget is about $2.2 million. The outlook for the 4,700 student SVUSD is a bit cloudier. Not only will they have to sort out the cuts in restricted, categorical program funding, but the general funding situation (the majority of its approximately $37 million budget) is unclear. This is in part due to the fact that SVUSD has recently become a Basic Aid school district, where the state does not provide any general funding. Instead, all of its general purpose funding comes from property taxes. Becoming a Basic Aid district is not by choice, but is determined by the state based in part on the number of students enrolled. When enrollment declines, as it has in SVUSD, a district is more likely to fall into the Basic Aid category. The Kenwood School District is a Basic Aid district. Predicting the level of property taxes for current and future school budgeting purposes has become problematic. Estimates have been fluctuating due to declining home values and the potential for county reassessments of homes. “This is an equation with too many variables,” said SVUSD’s Gustafson. “We don’t know what to plug in.” Those in attendance at the Feb. 24 SVUSD meeting expressed a variety of concerns about the impacts of the current financial situation, including possible teacher and staff layoffs, and effects on class sizes. More public meetings have been scheduled, including a Mar. 3 special board of trustees meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the Sonoma Valley High School library. Another consequence of SVUSD falling into Basic Aid has been the elimination of money the Kenwood School District had been receiving for inter-district transfer students from SVUSD to Kenwood. State financing rules had the state paying Kenwood about $3800 per student for about 57 students coming from SVUSD, over $200,000. But now that state money is gone because state regulations say that if a student from one Basic Aid district transfers into another Basic Aid District, the state will not provide any money. It is likely this funding source is gone for good since it is anticipated that SVUSD will remain a Basic Aid District for years to come. Superintendent/Principal Bob Bales said that the Kenwood School District, in anticipation of the loss of inter-district transfer funding, did not include that revenue in the budget for fiscal year 2008-09, and will not budget for it in future years. Editor & Publisher Email: alec@kenwoodpress.com |
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