School Board Begins to Pare Budget to Reflect Decreased Income

• Recent Defeat of State Ballot Measures Regarded as Clear Message from Angry California Voters

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

Faced with another round of difficult budget decisions just days after Californians rejected ballot initiatives 1A-1E in the state special election, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District board of education, at its May 21 meeting in Santa Monica, voted to increase some class sizes and trim $700,000 from special education, among other measures to cope with the worsening financial crisis.
“Voters sent a very clear message to us,” Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association president Harry Keily told the board. “We have to plan what this district will look like, absent any other revenues. Solutions must be local. We can no longer rely on Sacramento to provide the services we need.”
“The governor is suggesting reductions that will impact this current year,” assistant superintendent and chief financial officer Jan Maez announced. We’re expecting [cuts] in the range of $344 per average daily attendance,” she explained. That would amount to $3.8 million, although the district won’t know the exact number until the May revise of the state budget is official and there is still the hope that federal stimulus money may help offset the the deficit.
However, Maez warned that the district cannot count on federal assistance, and that the deficit will continue to grow unless there are reductions, with the real potential for the deficit to reach $12.3 million next year and to keep climbing. Maez stated that by the third year the district could be $23 million “in the hole.”
“This is a very difficult situation that we’re facing,” Maez stated. “There are no sacred cows in budget planning anymore.”
The board listened to concerns from parents about the proposed cuts to special education, some expressing concern and confusion over how the district arrived at the proposed reduction amount, but voted in the end to approve realigning the program to eliminate $700,000.
The board also approved $300,000 in cuts from contracted services, as well as a reorganization plan for Santa Monica High School’s house system that involves eliminating one of the six houses, despite a strong outcry from Samohi parents.
All Samohi students are assigned to a house, a sort of school within the school, which has its own principal and advisors and offers many of the required courses “in house.”
The Samohi reorganization will eliminate a house principal, outreach specialist, administrative assistant, office specialist, security officer and two advisors, as well as cut the services of the houses teacher leaders and librarian for a savings of around $700,000.
The reductions are anticipated to increase the ratio of students to advisors. Most of the board approved the plan as the least drastic option, however, board member Maria Leon-Vazquez expressed concern, requesting that district staff look to all the district schools to find ways to make reductions, including those in Malibu.
Santa Monica parents and student representatives have complained that Samohi, which is the largest school in the district, is facing the deepest cuts.
All middle and elementary schools in the district will be affected by increased class size increases. The board voted to approve an increase of three students per classroom at the K-3 level, for a total of 23:1, an option, staff said, that was made possible by a reduction in penalties at the state level.
Staffing for middle and high schools will be rolled back to 2008-09 levels, with 32:1 in grades 6-12 instead of 31:1. Grades 4-5 will remain at 30:1. District staff has indicated that it anticipates a savings of approximately $1.9 million for the 2009-10 school year from the class-size increases.
The staff report states that the change will not require the layoff of certificated personnel. However, district parents can expect more difficult budget decisions in the near future.
“Everything can’t be a top priority,” Keily acknowledged to the board. “When we are honest, eventually we’re all going to have to be part of it. [You will have to] do things we and you don’t want to. At least we aren’t one of those districts that are insolvent.”