More housing: Check.
More students: Check.
More school funding: Check.
The three go hand in hand, and, with the Gilroy Unified School District’s enrollment numbers up for the 2013-14 school year, additional state funding will be dispersed to the district that last year had to be taken over by the county to help get its fiscal house in order.
GUSD, as of Wednesday, counted 11,475 students (up from 11,321 at the same time last year) with 590 certificated staff members – which included 40 new teachers, some of whom replaced retired/departed teachers and others that were added.
Based on the current enrollment, Assistant Superintendent Alvaro Meza of Business Services said the estimated Average Daily Attendance (known as ADA, this is the amount of state funding GUSD receives per student per day) for a GUSD student this school year is at $6,997 annually.
With 154 additional students enrolled so far, GUSD will have more than $1 million in ADA money than last year. The best way to distribute the extra funds has been a topic of discussion at the last several School Board meetings. Top priorities include salary increases for existing staff, adding more staff to meet the demands of enrollment, filling vacated administrative and classified positions, filling the maintenance reserve fund and technology upgrades.
“We ended last year on a really good note, and we’re looking really good for this year,” said GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores, noting that the district is expected to benefit from the state’s new Local Control Funding Formula for the 2014-15 school year. The new system shifts control over spending and budgeting from the state to districts, and it steers substantially more money to high-needs students: low-income children, foster youth and English learners, according to EdJoin.org.
This school year, GUSD expects to maintain a $6 to $7 million reserve with a $89 million operating budget.
The district will discuss its revised budget at its upcoming Sept. 5 Board of Education meeting for the 2013-14 school year. Flores said the district is anticipating roughly $3 million in additional funds – on top of the increased ADA – thanks to the new LCCF formula.
Flores said official enrollment numbers will increase even more by October – she estimates about 50 additional students – at which time GUSD must report that number to the California Department of Education.
The City of Gilroy permitted roughly 200 housing units in fiscal year 2012-13; is anticipating 400 more units this fiscal year; and estimates 500 units in each of the next two years after that, according to Development Center Manager Lee Butler for the City.
If the population of Gilroy – which is currently around 50,000 – continues to grow, GUSD will be forced to add a ninth elementary school. According to a demographer’s estimates, a district should expect one new student for every two single family homes built, so the district has already begun preparations for meeting that increase at the elementary school level.
GUSD currently owns two vacant properties, deemed as surplus: The old Las Animas Elementary School site on Wren Avenue and the Grove property in the Glen Loma area on the corner of Miller Avenue and Santa Teresa Boulevard. An advisory committee recommended the sale of both properties, but the district makes the final call on whether the best option is for sale, lease, or transfer of one or both properties.
Flores said the district will then locate a better location to purchase land and build a new elementary school in the future.
