From the Desk of the Superintendent
Superintendent Deborah A. Flores, Ph.D.
Thursday, January 10, 2002
Letter to the Community:
At this time each year, District staff and the Board of Education begin reviewing and discussing the budget for the next school year. For the past few years, our Elementary District budget has been particularly challenging due to declining enrollment, a much lower revenue base than our High School District, and the special education encroachment. Each of the past two years, it has been necessary to cut between $300,000-400,000 from the Elementary District budget. Our commitment has been to minimize the impact of budget cuts on students and staff and, thus, the vast majority of the cuts have been made at the District Office and in the maintenance and operations department. Based on the information that we have available at this time, we are anticipating a need to make even more significant cuts in the 2002-2003 budget. Fortunately, it has not been necessary to make cuts in our High School District’s budget as enrollment has continued to increase in our secondary schools. Additionally, the High School District receives over $800 more per student than is received in the Elementary District. In the coming years, we anticipate a drop in enrollment in the High School District when smaller classes in our elementary schools reach the junior and senior high schools.
New in this year’s budget process is the possibility that the legislature will approve mid-year cuts that were proposed by the Governor in December. This is an unprecedented move by the Governor as mid-year cuts have never been recommended. If the legislature approves the proposed cuts, this would have a negative, immediate impact on both District budgets immediately (approximately $295,000 in the Elementary District and $794,000 in the High School District). A special session of the legislature has been scheduled for later this month, after which we will know the extent of the mid-year budget cuts.
Analysts are predicting very lean times for the next few years, not just for public education but for all departments within the state budget. The combined effect of the energy crisis, a significant drop in sales tax revenues, and the impact of the September 11 tragedies has left California with a 12 billion dollar shortfall in this budget year. There is no question that funding for education will be impacted by the need to make major cuts at the state level. The Governor’s proposed budget for 2002-2003 will be released on January 14, at which time we will have a clearer understanding of how deep the cuts will be.
Sincerely,
Deborah A. Flores, Ph.D.
Superintendent