Message from Superintendent Patrick Godwin Regarding the State Budget Crisis

July 28, 2009

We have a tentative agreement with the Folsom Cordova Education Association (FCEA), the union that represents certificated employees including teachers, counselors, nurses, and psychologists. 

The legislature has also sent a budget to the governor.

The agreement with FCEA is wonderful news for our students, staff, and community.  We will have to wait and see whether or not the governor signs the legislature’s package, and what the last minute details will mean for our schools. 

Agreement with FCEA

Because members of FCEA and the administrators and managers in the District were willing to take a reduction in compensation for the coming year, we will be able to rescind all of the certificated layoff notices we issued on June 11.  For students and families, that means that we will continue to offer a middle school elective period, keep most of our high school electives, and retain the same level of counselor services.  Our 1^st and 2^nd grade classrooms will be staffed at an average of 25-to-1, with no more than 27 in any one class.  We will also continue to offer a full range of junior varsity and varsity athletics.

The Governing Board is very appreciative that FCEA and the Folsom Cordova Administrators Association (FCAA) stepped up to save services and opportunities for students as well as many jobs for our committed staff.      

This is a much better scenario than the "worst case" that we were facing in June.

Some problems and work remain

Although we can take some comfort in knowing we have avoided the worst case scenario, we should not lose sight of the many other reductions to services for students that remain on the list of reductions the Board will review on July 30.

The District will continue to meet with the California School Employees Association (CSEA), the union that represents support staff such as instructional aides, administrative assistants, custodians, bus drivers, campus monitors, and cafeteria workers.  An agreement with CSEA could save jobs and services for students, including staffing for the libraries.

The District has committed to using any savings generated by a CSEA furlough plan or other compensation reduction to maintain services and jobs performed by CSEA staff members. 

State budget

Given what we know about the budget package approved by the legislature, it appears that we will receive about $834 dollars less per student in 2009-10 than we did in 2007-08.  In 2007-08, the District received $5,784 per student, in 2008-09 we received $5,633, and for the coming year we will receive $4,950.  This per pupil reduction required that we reduce our expenditures for 2009-10 by $14.7 million, and that may not be the final total.

The final details of the state budget package will not be known for several days (or weeks) but all indications are that the cuts to public education will be about what we had anticipated.  There are concerns that some details of the budget package might actually reduce the amount we would receive, so we will be monitoring the budget information.  If the funding for California's public school is further reduced, we will need additional flexibility in the use of special program funds (categoricals) or reserve funds to bridge any new funding gap.    

By the way, the per pupil funding for California's public schools will be approximately $1,450 below the national average if the current budget projections hold.  If we were funded at the national average, our students would benefit from $26 million more in resources and services. 

These are tough times for the state and the nation, but those of us concerned about the future cannot help but wonder how California students will keep pace with the rest of the nation and the world with such a discrepancy in funding.  California's students are expected to meet the highest standards in the nation, yet we have below average funding to serve the most diverse and economically challenged population in the nation.  One-third of all the students who speak a language other than English in their homes live in California. 

And if we have to revise the budget again in five months due to declining state revenues . . .

Federal stimulus dollars

Without the assistance of the federal stimulus dollars, the impact on our schools and community would be even greater.  The Folsom Cordova Unified School District anticipates receiving close to $11 million in federal stimulus dollars over the next two years. 

Some of the federal dollars were used to backfill mid-year cuts in 2008-09.  The remainder will be used in 2009-10 and 2010-11 to mitigate the loss of state revenues.  While we will spend a little more than half of the federal dollars to balance our budget in 2009-10, it would not be wise to spend even more in 2009-10 knowing that we will have to make reductions in 2010-11.  The Governing Board will attempt to balance the use of these dollars to spread the impact over two years.  

Summary

Thanks to the agreement with FCEA and FCAA, and the federal stimulus funds, we can continue to offer most of the services, opportunities and programs we have offered in the past. 

However, the state still has a dysfunctional fiscal and governance structure that will persist for at least another year or two.  Stay tuned.

Patrick Godwin