• See illustration of facilities renovation plan in the pdf below
Even if California has changed governors, the budget news for the School District from Sacramento is dully familiar:
“Our budget is in flux, and it will be until some of the state’s decisions are made in June” (when voters will be asked to approve billions of dollars in tax extensions), says Ali Delawalla, the District’s assistant superintendent for business services.
Layoffs are a possibility. Other cost-cutting measures appear to be certainties. But finalization is about a half-year away.
“Depends on what happens in the special election,” said Mr. Delawalla. “But first, Gov. Brown has to get through the Legislature before going to the voters. So there are two hurdles for him. The previous governor, you may remember, could not get anything passed through the Legislature.
Mr. Delawalla was in the center ring for most of last night’s School Board meeting, offering a sunny outlook on prospects for a three-dimension facility renovation program but presenting more grim news about the state of finances.
“Aside from the special election in June, two components are going to impact our,” he said.
So Much Is Conditional
“The governor is going to increase the deficit factor by 1.67 percent. This will mean a reduction of about $700,000 in revenue for the Culver City Unified School District.”
Placing the figure in context, Mr. Delawalla said that while $34 million normally would stream into the District from Sacramento, “but we have been taking reductions since 2007, and now every dollar counts. Since are taking an almost 18 percent reduction this year, having a further reduction on top of that, it really hurts.”
Mr. Delawalla explained what “taking a reduction” means.
Long-entrenched Prop. 98 requires a minimum percentage of the annual budget to be set aside for schools. However, Sacramento has not met that agreement in recent years.
Meaning of Terms
“As a result,” he said, “the state has reduced the amount by what they call a ‘deficit factor.’ For example, say the School District, under Prop. 98, is supposed to get $1. But the state says we should only receive 82 cents.
“The state is reducing the funding, and that makes it difficult for schools to operate.”
“Layoffs” is the central, the dreaded, buzz word every winter about this time when California school districts begin to receive the first round of financial projections from Sacramento.
By law, teachers must be notified by March 15 if they are in the line of fire to potentially be laid off.
“That makes it very difficult for us when we don’t know by that date what the budget is going to look like,” Mr. Delawalla said.
At least the budgetary gimmicks that were a feature of former Gov. Schwarzenegger’s budgets are gone, he noted, happily replaced by candor.
“The good thing about Gov. Brown’s budget is that there are no accounting gimmicks,” Mr. Delawalla said. “Brown is telling us, ‘We have a problem.’ Before, the Legislature used the accounting gimmicks to balance the budget. By contrast, Brown is trying to reduce the expenditures by $12.5 billion and also increase revenue by raising taxes by $12.5 billion to balance the budget.
Crucial Distinction
“There are no gimmicks in the governor’s proposal. It is straight-forward.
“The other part that is going to affect us is the governor’s proposal to eliminate redevelopment agencies altogether. We get redevelopment funds that we use to fund our ‘unrestricted’ activities.”
Mr. Delawalla noted that the Culver City School District annually receives $1.2 million from the Redevelopment Agency to use as it wishes, a breath of fresh air given the numerous restrictions attached to a majority of funding.
Therefore, the District stands to lose about $2 million when the redevelopment money and the earlier $700,000 reduction are combined.
“If the voters don’t approve the governor’s tax proposals,” Mr. Delawalla said, “the indication is another $2 billion will be cut from the education budget in ’11-’12.”
Hardly anything is left to trim in the District budget, the assistant super said. “For the last three years, we have reduced staff and purchasing of non-essential items. Not much is left to cut.
‘We are fortunate to have the five furlough days this year,” he said, “because that has saved us about $1 million.”
Upgrading Facilities
In vivid, optimistic contrast to the budget, Mr. Delawalla brought encouraging news about three renovation intentions:
• Upgrading the football, soccer and tennis surfaces,
• Elevators for the Middle School and Culver City High School, and
• Upgrading seating, air conditioning and heating for the Robert Frost Auditorium.
Funds are available for the three projects expected to cost a little more than $11 million, and Mr. Delawalla believes there will be a surplus after all are completed.
The accompanying pdf provides an illustration of the outdoors athletic fields’ portion.
[img]1076|exact|Culver City HS_Revised scheme 7a site||no_popup[/img]
