O.A. trustees say, ‘No more cuts’

<p>After cutting $1.675 million from a $14 million budget, the trustees of the Old Adobe Union School District have chosen to take a stand. We refuse to cut more this year and we have deliberately adopted a budget that is in conflict with current state policy.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Why? The constantly changing financial information from the state means that we are forced to repeatedly cut programs and staff that directly serve our students.</p><p>Whenever school districts in California adopt a budget, they are required to show that they will be solvent three years into the future. No other government body lives under this requirement. Now, generally this approach to budgeting is a good thing. It means that schools must really live within their means and keep a very watchful eye on their futures. However, in economic times such as we are experiencing now, where funding changes occur before the ink is dry on the budget packet, it is very difficult to see six months ahead, let alone 36! </p><p>Our obligation is to do the best that we can for our children today and not further erode their educational foundation. We believe that further cuts this year, based on questionable assumptions, are unfair. To make our point, on June 29, 2009 we attached a resolution to our budget stating: “We believe we have a responsibility to, and will not abandon, our students during California’s budget crisis.” Cuts to balance a budget (which is 87 percent staff salaries) three years away will bankrupt our children’s education now.</p><p>Over the past nine years, we have continually trimmed our budgets to compensate for declining enrollment and underfunded state and federal mandates. These latest cuts bring the total to $3.1 million. We have lost health aides, reading teachers, summer school, an instrumental music program and administrative overhead. We have tried to keep the cuts out of the classrooms and in spite of diminishing budgets we have found creative new programs to add to our curriculum that do not increase our costs. These latest cuts grossly reduce site-controlled funds, further reduce maintenance and custodial support, limit textbook purchases, curtail staff development, threaten library services and classroom sizes, and dangerously reduce our reserves. </p><p>We take our fiduciary responsibility very seriously. Unlike our state, our current budget is balanced through the 2010-2011 school year (two years out). In 2011-2012 we fall short. Normally when a budget is submitted to the County Office of Education that is not balanced three years out, it includes proposed changes to spending that, if adopted, will correct the shortfall. We refuse to speculate on what programs or staff we will eliminate three years from now when it is quite possible that new programs (like our Dual Immersion classes at Bernard Eldredge Element-ary) and other changes we have already made will result in a better financial situation down the road. Our resolution boldly states, “The nature of the current fiscal crisis is such that any projection of revenue into the future becomes moot as soon as it is committed to paper.” We want our staff to stay focused on their primary task: educating children, and not be distracted by talk of what might happen because we had to guess at hitting a moving target.</p><p>We resolve, “The OAUSD Board of Trustees strongly encourages the state of California, during its current budget crisis, to focus on cuts in funding to the administrative layer at the state level first, as well as provide increased financial flexibility needed to enable all 1,039 California school districts to ensure academic opportunity for students and preserve programs, jobs and public confidence in our schools.” Perhaps we should close the California Department of Education before we fire another teacher?</p><p>It should be sufficient that we are aware of the fact that we may be headed for a budget shortfall so we can keep that “watchful eye” on the financial future, which we will most certainly do.</p><p><i>(Members of the Old Adobe Union School District School Board are Russ Wigglesworth, Marlene Abel, Mary Colbert, Rick Parker and Debra Sammon.)</p>