Superintendent warns that programs will be cut.
By Pamela Wells/Special to The Malibu Times
With a forecasted shortfall of $2.5 million in the second interim budget for 2003/2004 looming, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District has indicated numerous school programs will be curtailed as the deficit continues to show itself as a serious concern to the district.
“The shortfall is expected to last two years with several years of residual effects,” SMMUSD Superintendent John Deasy said. “There will be some serious cutbacks to support programs … and we will not be in a position to replace the programs we cut.”
The details of specific programs and services that will be cut will be reviewed at the school committee meeting on Thursday.
Deasy is adamant about calling the problem a shortfall.
“A crisis is usually unexpected,” Deasy said. “Our fiscal year would be fine if the state had given all previously promised and future revenues.”
Deasy presented a list of options the board is seriously considering to help with the budget shortfall in a letter to the board dated April 17. The three options presented are not set in stone.
Option 1 suggests that all areas of the school operations be cut as equally as possible. Option 2 talks about reversing the decision to decrease class size and, instead, increasing student count, which in the long run will increase the revenue limit, according to Deasy.
Option 3 discusses ways to generate revenue by increasing the parcel tax.
Deasy recommended the board consider adopting the third option, which would have the least impact on programs.
Changes and eliminations in current district operations are expected to take place on July 1.
“We will not be serving all students in the way that we do now,” Deasy said. “There will be significant losses in programs.”
Deasy assures parents the district is using the premise that it cuts as far away from the classroom as possible.
Some steps the district is taking to correct the shortfall are freezes on hiring nonessential personnel, holds on spending and examination of projected future expenditures to determine which can be delayed.
“We have options and ways to avoid eliminating what parents request,” Deasy said. “The options may not be the most desirable, but we as a community can control the situation.”
Deasy also said the problems with the budget are for the operational budget only and have nothing to do with construction programs, therefore, “There are no projects at Malibu High School that will be delayed because of funding.”
The construction work that the Board of Education has approved for Malibu High and other local schools will be completed, he said. Any additional work will require the approval of a new facilities bond measure by the voters. In November, California voters will have an opportunity to approve a state ballot measure that would allow the state to issue about $12 billion in bonds for school construction/modernization.
“State leaders plan to schedule a similar measure for the election in November 2004,” Jean Gebman, chair of the oversight committee for Proposition X, said. “The total amount of bonds would be about $25 billion.”
And “although $25 billion may seem like a lot of money, the district’s share of the statewide bond funds could amount to only $20 million,” Gebman said. “Statewide enrollment in K-12 is about 500 times that of the district. And the bonds would be used for community colleges and public universities as well.”
Gebman went on to say the pace at which the district can continue its construction/modernization/replacement of facilities will be driven strongly by the ability of local voters to support local bond measures for facilities. The district cannot afford to use general operating funds for upgrading facilities.
According to Gebman, the impact on programs will be minimal if voters and the local city councils approve the revenue generating initiatives in Option 3.
“If voters, city councils and employees all reject the elements of Option 3, the impact on programs will be far-reaching as is reflected in the superintendent’s letter,” Gebman said. “Class sizes, athletic programs and music programs all would suffer.”
However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, according to Gebman.
“California should be building superior programs for educating youth-not dismantling what we have,” Gebman said. “The district’s strategic plan will show how that can be accomplished in this district and in California.”
Gebman added the key lies with informing and persuading voters to raise their level of investment in education while supporting employee efforts to improve instructional capacity and student achievement.
“We have to get onto a spiral of success-and off of the death spiral that California K-12 education has been on since the mid-1960s, when only four states invested more per student than California,” Gebman said. “By 1996, 40 states were ahead of California. Today, California has the largest class sizes in the nation, while it starts prison guards at salaries higher than its teachers.”