Petaluma City Schools' budget still in flux

Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed a new state spending plan that will add billions of dollars to California's K-12 and community college funding. While the overall increase is sizeable, the impact of these funds on the Petaluma City Schools District, which has faced dramatic cuts in recent years, will be relatively small.

Statewide, this year's school budget adds up to $55.3 billion dollars, $8 billion more than in 2011-2012. It also extends the ability of individual districts to have local control over how the money is spent. Districts were given enhanced local control over their funds in the last five years in response to the recession but without this spending plan, that control would have run out at the end of next year.

"The change in the law provides the opportunity for parents in the community to work with the school district to meet our local needs and not have the State of California dictating how dollars are going to be expended," says Steve Bolman, superintendant of Petaluma City Schools.

Previously, funds had often been designated for specific needs that seemed common throughout the state. For example, Bolman said that the state allocated money to schools specifically for counselors, a position many schools cut during the recession. While this suited some schools, Petaluma had tightened its belt in other areas but had not reduced counseling staff. So Petaluma had to spend the money to hire more counselors when it would have preferred to use it to restore other, more needed services.

The new budget also places special emphasis on closing the achievement gap and, therefore, prioritizes giving money to school districts with high numbers of students from low-income families, foster children, and English as a second language (ESL) students. The money for these schools will go into general district funds and be given to individual schools from there.

Since McKinley Elementary and McDowell Elementary have large ESL populations, they will receive a significant portion of the state funds from the district. Bolman says that both schools have been consistently improving, so there won't likely be many changes in the way the money is used, although the district will be thoroughly assessing the schools' needs.

The timing of this spending plan is proving tricky for schools. They now know the generalities but the specifics, like how they will be able to use the money, have yet to be explained. Some details will be disclosed as soon as mid-July but other parts of the plan will be developed in the course of the 2013-14 school year.

"We're still operating fairly blind," says Midge Hoffman, the chief business official for Petaluma City Schools. "As a matter of fact, I still don't even know that what I've budgeted is actually 100 percent correct."

What is clear is that the district could use the extra funds. Hoffman estimates that the Petaluma City Schools District has experienced a 22 percent cut over the last five years. It had $64 million in revenue last year and the new spending plan is estimated to increase that to $65.4 million. Even then, the district will likely be running at a $2.8 million deficit this year. By the 2014-15 school year, the district might make it out of deficit spending, says Hoffman.

With the specificities of the budget still largely unknown, school officials aren't saying for certain where the additional money will go. Bolman says there will be continued emphasis on ESL resources and Hoffman says that it is a priority for the district to go back to a full schedule of 180 school days (from the current 175). This increase has not yet been discussed with the teachers union but may be one of the few changes seen this school year. Enhanced benefits and staff development days for teachers might be another, according to Hoffman.

Although they have their wish list and some added money, the primary reaction of the district to the new budget seems to be wariness. "We're trying to be cautious," says Hoffman. "We don't want to get into adding back all of the things - the $11 million that we've cut over the last five years - and then have to cut again if it doesn't come to fruition."

(Contact Taylor Kubota at argus@arguscourier.com.)

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