Message from Superintendent Patrick Godwin Regarding the State Budget Crisis

February 20, 2009

We have a state budget.

After weeks of waiting and wrangling, we now have a state budget that will allow us to plan for the remainder of this year and for next year. Because school districts also prepare three year projections, we can also begin to predict the impact this budget resolution will have on the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years.

First, the good news.

The budget signed by the governor today does not reduce the per-pupil funding levels as much as previously feared. We will still receive less per student this year (2008-09) than we did last year (2007-08) and even less per student in 2009-10 than we did this year; however the decline in per-pupil funding is less than originally feared. (See the PowerPoint titled Budget Update: February 19 Board Presentation for details of the decline in per-pupil revenues and other budget details.) It seems odd to consider a decline in per-pupil funding as "good news," but the news a few weeks ago was even worse.

Additionally, the legislature did approve a series of short-term flexibility measures that will allow us to spend carry-over funds from some special programs (categoricals) and some future categorical funds to back-fill for the decrease in per-pupil revenues. This flexibility will allow us to avoid many of the cuts under consideration in the "worst case" scenarios we developed and presented at the public forums on February 10 and 12. (See Budget Update: February Forums for the Power Point presented at the public forums.)

However, even the increased flexibility does not solve all of the problems, and still presents us with some difficult choices.

Perhaps the most difficult choice will be deciding whether or not to take advantage of the limited flexibility provided for Class Size Reduction (CSR). The state's budget proposal allows districts to exceed the strict 20-to-1 cap and still collect most of the funding. For our District, that means that if we increased class sizes to 22-to-1 we could save about $700,000 that could be used to restore many of the electives that would have been lost at our high schools. While we will continue to seek other local ways to restore the high school electives, the superintendent's current recommendations (See Budget Update: February 19 Board Presentation) do include increasing CSR to 22-to-1 in order to continue offering courses such as Advanced Placement, Career and Technical Education, and advanced music and fine arts at our high schools.

Now, the future problem.

The short-term flexibility in the state budget, and other one-time savings, will provide significant relief for the current and coming (2009-10) school years. However, we need to generate current on-going savings to prevent having to make deep cuts in 2010-11 and 2011-12. (See Budget Update: February 19 Board Presentation for details.) Using all of the short-term fixes in one year, and ignoring the District's future obligations, would be poor management that would ultimately hurt our students.

Over the next few weeks, we will be seeking a balance that preserves as much of the present services and options we offer students as possible, while identifying on-going adjustments that will minimize reductions in future years. We believe it will be better to swallow a little bitter medicine now in order to avoid a serious illness in the coming years.

We also need to keep in mind that while we can take some comfort in knowing we have avoided what some pundits referred to as a "train wreck," the funding for public education in California is still well below the national average. Students in most states benefit from smaller class sizes, additional support staff, and increased services and opportunities. If we want to protect the future for our children, state, and nation, we must make a greater investment in education.

Patrick Godwin