Lafayette School Board Looking to Trim More Than $1.5 Million From Budget

Cash is king when it comes to California public schools and Lafayette K-8 public education officials admit the coffers are looking a little lean.

More than 200 residents attended the first of three special meetings of the Governing Board at Stanley Middle School on Wednesday in the hope of weighing in on a proposed budget reduction plan for the 2011-2012 school year. The upshot: The financial picture is grim.

With an annual operating budget of $26 million for the school year, board members said it was critical to elicit input from the community on where and how to trim roughly $1 million to $1.2 million from the 2011-2012 budget. More than 30 parents, teachers and community members pleaded to keep the cuts out of the classrooms. But by law the school board must notify any certificate employees by March 15 if their services will no longer be needed.

Lafayette K-8th grade education is in the grip of a $2.2 million structural deficit, according to School District Superintendent Fred Brill. This means revenues coming in are not meeting expenses, and while Governor Jerry Brown has promised "no new cuts to K-12 education," by law the district must show that it is financially solvent for three years out.

To offset the anticipated budget shortfall, the Lafayette School District will tap $330,000 from its special reserve funds ($1 million over three years), plus receive an additional one-time $610,000 federal job money grant, coupled with $250,000 from the district's unrestricted funds. But even with this money in hand, Brill said, the school district continues to experience a significant deficit.

About 200 California schools have received a"qualified" or "negative" rating this year. If they aren't able to show how they can pay their bills for three budget cycles, they are at risk of being taken over by the state, district officials said.

Luckily, Lafayette schools are not among them. But planning a budget for the next three years is no easy task when school superintendents feel they are at the mercy of Sacramento. For now, districts must wait for Sacramento to pass its budget in July and, in the meantime, they must cut their budgets in anticipation of a financial shortfall.

Music, science and health care were the dominant themes at the Wednesday night meeting, with parents asked to stand to show support for a speaker's stated position. One parent said: “Don’t cut music. My son says he’ll give his weekly allowance, just don’t cut music."

“I’d like to see the teachers give a little bit of a concession on their pensions and health care,” another said.

Springhill music teacher Victoria Ghulam talked about the importance of music in K-5 grades and Lafayette Elementary science teacher Jonathan Winter said science must remain part of the core curriculum if our country is to remain competitive with the rest of the world.

The Lafayette K-8 school district will ask voters in May to approve a $176 parcel tax — Measure B — to help mitigate and offset the current budget shortfall. Should the four-year parcel tax pass, it would generate about $1.5 million in additional funds per year to help preserve fixed costs such as teacher salaries, books, materials, technology, supplies, custodial services and vulnerable programs such as art, music and aides in the classroom.

"Given the reduced state funding, we are taking the necessary steps to offset our $2.2 million structural deficit," Brill said. "If the parcel tax does not pass, the cuts will be devastating to the quality educational programs our students currently receive.  We need stable funding that cannot be taken away by the state."

The next two Lafayette School Board budget meetings will be at Stanley Middle School on Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. and March 9 at 7 p.m.