District pleads with public to combat budget cuts

A PowerPoint slide of a dollar bill in a vise was the first thing many parents saw Tuesday night, when the Huntington Beach City School District warned them of dire budgetary issues should the state go forward with plans to chop their funding.

Trustees, administrators and advocates at the district painted a stark picture that evening of a $3.8-million budget deficit that would present itself in the 2009-10 school year, should the state’s budget projections be accurate.

An additional $1.65-million deficit would fall in the 2010-11 year, on top of the $3.8 million from the previous year.

The district urged parents and other local residents to begin writing and calling their legislators to combat the proposed cuts.

“They don’t hear from everyday people as much as they would like, really,” said board member Celia Jaffe.

She also urged interested parties to add themselves to the district’s Key Communicators e-mail list by writing to jeri.moreau@hbcsd.k12.ca.us.

“If we all speak up, we are the largest voting bloc in the state,” said PTA President Cyndee Ely. “We can’t be ignored.”

The district brought out a list of possible budget reductions that was adopted April 15. None of the actions on the prioritized list have been implemented — yet.

“This year is looking worse than last year,” Jaffe said. She urged attendees to talk to their neighbors and friends who don’t have kids about the impact of the state budget on local schools.

Possible reduction measures include reducing the number of special education instructional assistants by half; reducing school site allocations by half; reducing or eliminating library media technician positions; or eliminating middle school zero period. Increases in class sizes also were discussed.

“None of this comes lightly,” Jaffe said. “Every year, there are horrible decisions to face. … It’s a really awful aspect on being on the board of trustees, I’ve got to tell you.”

“Overall, we spend roughly 85% of our entire general fund budget on salary and benefits,” district Assistant Supt. for Administrative Services Michael Curran said.

Only 11% actually is used for services and other operating expenses; the remaining 5% goes toward books and supplies.

This is why staff is usually the first to go in times of critical budget cuts, he added.

Despite recent actions to consider selling four unused school sites, the district said the profits from any such sales would legally only benefit school sites, not salaries or any other types of needs.

Curran spent time detailing the history and mechanics of school funding to the local parents.

The district primarily receives funds from property taxes; a much smaller amount comes from federal sources, lottery revenues and other local miscellaneous sources.

Funds are dumped into one of two buckets: categorical, which is support for specific programs like special education or Gifted and Talented Education, or general purpose, which can be used for anything.

The amount each district in the state receives is based on the average number of students who attend each school over the entire school year, how much it already receives from other sources, and the specific categorical programs for which it qualifies.

Unfortunately, reductions (and non-funding) of statutory cost of living adjustments have meant further increases to the district’s budget deficit, and general fund monies have had to be applied to mandatory programs that have been underfunded.

With the decline in housing values comes a decline in property taxes, a key source of funding for the district, creating something akin to the budgetary “perfect storm” of the 1990s.

Dwyer Middle School Principal Don Ruisinger threw protocol aside in his assessment of the situation.

“We’re arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. That’s all were doing here in this conversation,” he said.

Ruisinger said the fault was squarely in the court of those who voted for Proposition 13 in the 1970s to reduce their property taxes.

“Do you know what $3.8 million means to this school district next year?” he asked. “What it means is that people I love are not going to be here next year.”

Ruisinger also urged people to contact their legislators.

“They don’t know what you want,” he said.