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Local districts make state's fiscally troubled list

BY JORGE BARRIENTOS, Californian staff writer
jbarrientos@bakersfield.com | Tuesday, Jun 29 2010 05:37 PM

Last Updated Tuesday, Jun 29 2010 05:37 PM

Five local school districts including Bakersfield's Panama-Buena Vista Union may have to make drastic cuts in coming years -- possibly including more layoffs -- to stay fiscally afloat, the California Department of Education said Tuesday.

Panama made the list as part of a process in which districts must declare their budget status for two years out. The district needs to close a $5 million budget gap.

"Unless we make some substantial cuts in our spending, we would exhaust our reserves and general funds by the end of the second year," said Michael Brouse, Panama's head of business.

The district, he said, will have to work out its situation with "collective bargaining" starting next year. Panama has roughly $15.5 million in reserves, but by 2011-12 would be $4 million in the hole, according to district projections.

"I don't see any way to reduce any expenditures without receiving concessions from employees -- and all employees," he said. "What's good for one is good for all, and what's bad for one is bad for all."

Since the beginning of this year, the number of school districts in the state stating they may be unable to meet financial obligations has increased by 38 percent, Jack O'Connell state superintendent, said in a statement. A record 174 of California's school districts have been identified as financially troubled.

"Schools on this list are now forced to make terrible decisions to cut programs and services that students need or face bankruptcy," O'Connell said Tuesday.

This trend will worsen, he said, if proposed cuts to public education are enacted in the 2010-11 budget.

School districts several times a year classify their budgets as either positive, qualified or negative. Positive means the district is in the clear. The five local districts classified their budgets as qualified.

No local districts are "negative," meaning they won't meet financial obligations for the remainder of the current year, or following fiscal years. Fourteen districts in the state are negative.

California public schools have received $17 billion less in state funding than anticipated in the last two years, according to the state department. More than 20,000 teachers have received pink slips during the recent school year. Art, music, libraries, school nurses and other school programs have been cut.

Locally, many districts in recent years have been able to dip into reserves to avoid large-scale cuts, but they could do that only for so long. That was the case with Bakersfield City School District, which issued nearly 100 layoff notices in anticipation of a $5.5 million budget cut for the coming school year. Most were later rescinded after retirements and resignations freed up space.

As for Panama, the district has been trimming for several years already, and last week announced reductions of hours of 76 clerks and yard aides and eliminated 15 other positions.

Since 2000, only once has a Kern district declared being negative during this time of year -- Pond Union Elementary in 2006-07, according to the state data.

Mark Fulmer, Kern County Superintendent of Schools' business head, last week said the office is working with local districts to make sure budgets are in order and everyone is on the same page.

"Many districts are so close to the edge, we want to make sure we understand what we're all doing," Fulmer said. "They've all been working very hard. Nobody is pretending there's nothing wrong."