Schools riding another declining budget wave
| Thursday, May 07 2009 06:20 PM
Last Updated Thursday, May 07 2009 06:20 PM
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Whether or not voters shoot down the May 19 propositions -- a recent poll shows all but one failing -- schools are likely to face additional budget cuts.
In addition to the propositions, declining state sales tax revenue and local property taxes will create a big revenue hole that education will feel when the state counts its deficit.
The only certainty in the budget situation is the continuing budget uncertainty, said Rosedale Union School District Superintendent Jamie Henderson.
"We have a plan that assumes the state will continue to mess up their budget, and fail to do their due diligence to the children in California," said Norris School District Superintendent Wallace McCormick.
Rosedale and Norris, as have many districts, built the ongoing uncertainty into their budgets, with the expectation that nothing was settled in February.
But it doesn't make additional cuts any less painful in the long run.
Rosedale planned two "tiers" of possible cuts. Now the deeper Tier II reduction options, including raising class sizes in grades K through 3, are more likely.
The Panama-Buena Vista Union School District will raise class sizes to an average of 26 next year, up from this year's average of 20.
Budget reductions also mean the district will suspend its Summer Music Conservatory, which served hundreds of young musicians in a typical summer, according to the district.
Earlier this week, the Kern High School District projected a worst case, $40 million budget reduction. That's on top of the $22 million in cuts already identified as needed.
If the propositions fail, "parents really don't know what this going to do to their kids," said Esther Greenberg, a French teacher at Centennial High.
Increasing her class size significantly means less personal instruction, more distraction and less concentration on the material at hand, Greenberg said.
General class chaos grows when the head count goes up.
"For every kid you add to a class it's not linear, it's a geometric progression," Greenberg said.
Following the May vote, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget revision will arrive in mid-June.
But McCormick doesn't expect much actionable information to come out of the revision, and trimming budget fat -- no new textbooks, larger class sizes, leaving positions unfilled through attrition -- continues.
"We've already built our budget for next year, unless something comes up," said McCormick.
"What we told our staff is, 'we will go through a period of uncertainty,' and that's what we're in right now," said Henderson.
"And it's a period of great frustration."
