GILROY
– The school district should make it through this fiscal year,
based on a mid-year budget revision, but faces cuts of $1.2 million
in order to be in the black three years from now.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – The school district should make it through this fiscal year, based on a mid-year budget revision, but faces cuts of $1.2 million in order to be in the black three years from now.
An excess of about $498,368 over the state-mandated reserve level of 3 percent of the district’s general operating fund budget, roughly $66 million, is projected for 2003-04. However, by next year, Gilroy Unified School District will be $757,572 below the required amount and will be $1,193,203 short by 2005-06.
Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services Steve Brinkman cautioned trustees at a board meeting earlier this month against being too optimistic after seeing that this year balances out.
“I don’t want to lull anybody to sleep about this year, this year is by no means in the bag,” Brinkman said. “And if we don’t make this year, guess what happens by the third year? So we’re really focusing on this year: We’re going to try to do everything we can this year to make the nut a little smaller.”
The new budget projection takes into account the district’s contract settlement with teachers for a 3 percent salary increase and covering higher health and welfare benefits costs, as well as new enrollment and attendance estimates and current personnel versus what was expected.
“I know you’re going to come up with a plan to address the red numbers,” Trustee Jim Rogers told Brinkman. “Obviously, we’re going to make it through this year. However, planning for year two and year three is ongoing.”
The district is currently campaigning to increase attendance in an effort to get as much state funding as possible. Funding based on daily attendance is about $4,644 per student for GUSD this year. The per-student funding makes up about 67 percent of the district’s total general fund.
One piece of good news for schools is that the final version of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s bond and spending cap bill does not affect the minimum level of funding guaranteed public schools under Proposition 98. The governor created a hullabaloo earlier this month when, during a CNN interview, he said he was looking “to maybe have a suspension or to have some relief there so we can pull out of these next two years and then pay it back, maybe.”
Proposition 98 set a formula for school funding that is based on state revenue. During his campaign, Schwarzenegger vowed to protect school funding from budget cuts.
