Facing up to a $12 million deficit, the music program, nurses and counselors are on the chopping block.
By Nora Fleming / Special to The Malibu Times
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education members last week deferred decisions on district layoffs, stating they needed more time, discussion and alternatives before making decisions on how to handle what could be a $10 million to $12 million deficit by next school year.
On the chopping block for 2009-2010 are music teachers from the elementary music program, and intervention counselors and school nurses. In all, seven total positions could be cut, which are funded by categorical grants that the district stands to lose in the budget crisis, and could result in allocating money from the district’s general fund to cover the shortfall if the grants are not provided.
The district’s budget is currently a $123.7 million undertaking, 82.4 percent of which is spent on employee salaries and benefits.
Last Thursday, board members listened to parents who spoke about the impact the music program had on their children’s lives, the serious medical conditions of their children who require attentive and sufficient health services on campus, and the role of counselors in helping at-risk youth succeed in school.
Other members of the public, and members of the teacher’s union and district advisory committees, expressed frustrations that the first proposed cuts are ones that acutely impact children.
“Tonight, as a result of the financial situation, we are in a bedrock situation for all of you about your philosophy of education,” Richard McKinnon, member of the PTA Council, said to the board. “I, for one, do not like what I see. I don’t think teachers should be fired, I don’t think nurses should be on the front line and I don’t think classes should be growing. I would like to see from your staff completely alternative ways of addressing this budget crisis and how we organize and structure education in this district.”
The board agreed that any decisions on staff layoffs, which have to be made by its March 5 board meeting to meet a district cutoff date of March 15 for staff notifications, should not be the first, nor the only, solutions to cutting costs within the district, and expressed hope that alternatives can be offered that align closer to SMMUSD’s core principles.
The alternatives will be discussed at a proposed workshop/meeting, likely to be scheduled March 3 or 4, before the March 5 board meeting in Malibu where board members will make further decisions on budget reductions.
Board members requested district staff at the meeting to come back by the next meeting with more concrete numbers in savings as well as more information on how the suggested layoffs would specifically impact the district and what trade-offs for additional services would mean. Several board members said they would like to work with individual school sites and get recommendations from principals and staff on what cuts might be most appropriate to each school. “I think it’s unequivocal that we’re going to have cuts that are going to hurt people and are going to hurt programs. That’s a given,” said board member Jose Escarce. “But that doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility, if anything it reinforces it, to really try to figure out how to do it in a way that minimizes the damage and that reflects our priorities.”
At its Feb. 5 meeting, board members received a list of possible areas to reduce expenditures within the district that included increasing class sizes, making reductions at the central administrative offices and in special education costs, cutting employee health benefits and contracted services, as well as reorganizing the structure at Santa Monica High School.
The amount of actual savings from these cuts, which ranges from roughly $700,000 to close to $7 million, is an estimate, as some of the savings is dependent on state funding and the outcome of the state budget situation, which was unknown at that time and is still largely unknown.
Although the state budget was passed, district officials said they are still unsure of how much money the district will be receiving in categorical funding, but said the outcome could be better than originally expected.
The state, in a $42 billion deficit, currently provides SMMUSD with roughly $6,208 in funding per student, per year, which is $700 less than the national average. Local sources, contribute an additional $2,412 per student annually.
Board members last week also voted unanimously in favor of approving Superintendent Tim Cuneo’s contract. Cuneo, hired in July 2008 as an interim superintendent, will serve in the permanent position until July 31, 2011.
The next official board meeting will take place March 5 at Malibu City Hall.