Culver City Unified School District Budget Watch

 

This year Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger publicly vowed to protect education from further budget reductions. However, his initial budget proposal for 2010-2011 poses significant challenges for school districts, including the Culver City Unified School District.

 

Specifically, the Governor’s spending plan which was released in January, increases CCUSD’s revenue limit shortfall for 2010-11 to more than $9.3 million. This represents a dramatic increase from the $7.4 million gap identified by the District in the First Interim Budget Report presented to the Board of Education in December, 2009.

 

It is important to remember that the Governor’s January proposal represents the starting point for state-level negotiations that will ultimately result in a state budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. This means that Culver City Unified School District’s bottom line could get worse or improve before the legislature’s deliberations are over; however, due to a number of statutory deadlines, we must take critical steps to balance our budget now.

 

The Culver City Unified School District’s Board of Education has taken action on some reductions during the months of February and March, 2010. However, we are not where we need to be. As of today, a total of $1,353,212 has been cut, of which $786,400 is related to the Unrestricted General Fund. We still need to make additional cuts of $1.4 million. The mandated Second Interim Budget Report for the County was approved by the Board on Tuesday, March 9, 2010. Unfortunately, because we have not cut or been successful in negotiating furlough days with all employee groups, we have filed a Qualified Budget Report. Filing “Qualified” means that we will not be able to “pay our bills” in three years. This filing leads to additional oversight of our budget by the County Office. It also means that the County will need to approve some of our financial transactions rather than having them simply approved by the local Board of Education.

 

In economic downturns of the past, school districts have discussed “making tough choices” in terms of weighing program cuts, class-size increases and perhaps even salary rollbacks or furlough days. But given the magnitude of this year’s shortfall, the choices are few; we will likely have to pursue all of these abysmal options.

 

I know that many are concerned about the potential impact on programs for students, as well as on the livelihoods of so many dedicated employees. I wake up at night with the same concerns, wishing circumstances were different. But I must be totally candid. Given the scope and the size of the state’s problems, there are no options remaining that won’t impact our students, parents and staff members at some level.

 

We are an organization of people, with more than 93% of our operational budget spent on staff. So when you talk about stripping an additional $2 – $4 million from a district with a budget of little more than $48 million, you impact individuals as well as programs.

 

To encourage all members of the Culver City Unified School District community to provide input to our ongoing fiscal challenges, you will find on our website (ccusd.org) a 2010-2011 Budget Input Form. I encourage all of you to take a few minutes to submit your ideas for cost savings as well as for revenue enhancement.

 

Thank you for your continued support and understanding