The local unified school district faces between a $10 million and $22 million deficit within the next two years.
By Nora Fleming / Special to The Malibu Times
Due to a $5.3 billion statewide reduction in education funding, a result of the defeat of five of the six May 19 Special Election state ballot measures, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District stands to lose several million in state dollars this fiscal school year and next as well. This places the district at risk of being $10 million “in the hole” by 2010, and possibly reaching a deficit of $22 million by 2011, absent further reductions, said Jan Maez, district assistant superintendent, at last week’s district Board of Education meeting.
These deficit spending projections have quadrupled from the district budget workshop’s estimates earlier this month. The board must now make some tough decisions on cutting and reduced spending.
At last week’s Board of Education meeting, parents and community members continued to debate the district’s total proposed cuts of $4.6 million that include plans to “realign” the special education budget and increase class sizes district wide.
But these reductions, all of which were endorsed by the district’s Financial Oversight Committee, will only be the beginning as the board looks to slash millions more from next year’s budget by the end of June.
Further savings for the school district might come from even larger class sizes than originally proposed, staff furloughs, and a reduction of employee benefits and student programs. Combining smaller schools in the district with declining enrollment, such as the three elementary schools in Malibu, is also being considered.
One board member said Santa Monica and Malibu should consider the possibility of another parcel tax.
“We’ve been aware for some time of the likelihood of additional financial burdens put upon us that we were waiting for the elections to certify,” Board President Ralph Mechur said. “We are going to have to make decisions based on what we have, and try to deal with the larger extent of the problem … that’s the reality of the moment.”
But some speakers last Thursday said they felt the first cuts did not put forth the right message to the community and are worried about what was to come.
Santa Monica parents expressed concern that the reduction of a house at SAMOHI (the six-house system at Santa Monica High School divides the large school into smaller sub-units with their own separate administration), a savings of $700,000, would destroy the small interactive learning environments by increasing the number of students per house and ratio of students to school counselors. Parents said the cuts were also unbalanced and questioned why Malibu wasn’t facing the same, an opinion shared by Board Member Maria Leon Vazquez.
But district officials said the reductions responded to declining enrollment at the high school, and, Mechur added, class size increases district-wide would impact all schools within the district.
“This is [only] the first round of cuts,” said Board Vice President Barry Snell. “I want Samohi to be the flagship and the first in our community to step out and take these cuts, but I strongly recommend looking for cuts elsewhere as we go forward and [ensure] Samohi is not is going to be the top of the list in the future.”
Several disconcerted parents of special education students and district advisory committee members blasted the district’s estimate of $700,000 in savings by “re-aligning” the special education budget; board members said the district has been “under-spending” the typical allocation (this year at $22 million) for special education programs and services. Parents allege that the savings do not exist, and criticized the poor accounting of the special education budget.
The recently released Special Education Working Group report, which made recommendations for improving the district’s special education program, called for an extended analysis of its program offerings, which, parents said, is necessary before deciding on any cuts.
Even with its own dramatic reductions, the local school district is faring better than some other California school districts, which have already predicted complete bankruptcy for next year, laid off teachers this school year and completely eliminated certain student programs.
Hundreds of Los Angeles Unified School District students walked out of their classes last week to protest what is estimated at 2,500 in proposed teacher layoffs within their district.
“This is the worst budget that school districts in any time, any of us can remember, have faced,” Maez said. “I think districts are putting everything and anything on the table … There are no sacred cows in this budget planning process anymore.”
The next official board meeting will take place June 4 at district headquarters. The third budget workshop of the spring will take place June 10, also at district headquarters.