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Funding cuts, lottery losses affect proposed Kern High School District budget

By TARA MCLAUGHLIN, Californian staff writer
e-mail: tmclaughlin@bakersfield.com | Friday, Jun 20 2008 5:45 PM

Last Updated: Monday, Jun 23 2008 11:43 AM

The Kern High School District board of trustees may approve a $516 million budget at Monday’s meeting.

That would be about $23 million less than the $539 million budget trustees adopted in June 2007 for this past school year.

With the current state budget crisis, KHSD had to take into account the essentially nonexistent cost of living increase from the state, cuts in program funding and less lottery revenue, Dennis Scott, associate superintendent of business, said.

This fall, Mira Monte and Independence high schools will open adding utility and operational costs, he said. The district will also begin modernization of Arvin and East Bakersfield high schools and career education programs at several sites. It will also begin construction on a new continuation school.

The district anticipates having an estimated 140 fewer full-time equivalents including certificated staff, such as teachers, and classified staff, such as secretaries, if the district would have been able to staff itself under “business-as-usual” formulas, Scott said.