With an all-cuts budget in discussion at the state level
– a scenario that could decrease funding by a possible $1,000
per student instead of the anticipated $330 – Gilroy Unified School
District administrators may be forced to cut the blood supply from
mainstream staples.
With an all-cuts budget in discussion at the state level – a scenario that could decrease funding by a possible $1,000 per student instead of the anticipated $330 – Gilroy Unified School District administrators may be forced to cut the blood supply from mainstream staples.
With state negotiations taking a turn for the worse, trustees are revisiting hot button topics such as cutting athletics, transportation, the closure of an elementary school and elimination of additional school days.
Added to the mix is the possibility of putting a parcel tax before Gilroy voters, which was mentioned for the first time during Thursday’s April 21 board meeting.
“Basically we’re dismantling our public schools at this point. There’s no fat to cut here. This is cutting at the heart of our education,” said trustee Jaime Rosso. “These are not the frills. These things are what make going to school a worthy endeavor for the kids.”
Trustee Francisco Dominguez initiated the parcel tax topic, but speculated as to its popularity and likelihood that Gilroy property owners would cozy up to paying a land tax to help fund GUSD schools.
“We could talk about how to go about evaluating that,” he said to a board that did not further discuss making the tax a reality.
In early March, officials for Gilroy’s financially troubled neighbors to the south – the Hollister School District – decided to place a $96 parcel tax proposal on a special June mail-in ballot.
Rosso isn’t jazzed about the idea, but said the community, city leaders and groups in Gilroy’s business sector need to step up and take ownership of the crisis.
“This is not just a school board solution,” he said. “Talk about pride in a community – there’s not going to be much pride if we dismantle our schools.”
During a prior phone conversation, he did mention number of districts to the north have placed a parcel tax on the ballot.
“I don’t want to jump the gun, although I think it’s looking more and more like we’ll have to look to our own resources, and less and less are we going to be able to depend on the state to solve our problems,” he said.
Rosso asserted all options, not just a parcel tax, need to be scrutinized. When it comes to communitywide decisions, residents need to collectively unite on what they feel is important, he said.
“Is this something that we value and are willing to invest in? Is it something worthy of finding a solution we can all have pride in, regardless of our political affiliation?”
In this regard, Rosso pointed out voters are very fickle.
“They want the services but they don’t want to pay for them … We want all the benefits and entitlement, but we are not willing to come up with a solution to pay for it. These are the conversations we need to have at the local level among ourselves.”
Nebulous numbers
In addition to the unpleasant task of having to make cuts, GUSD’s budget goal is anything but lucid since the final number they’ll have to hit is a moving target.
Up until now they were planning for two scenarios – cutting either $2.8 million or $6.7 million from operating costs. But as temporary tax extensions slated for a possible June ballot have not come to fruition and talks of an all-cuts budget are happening at the state level, GUSD administrators are haunted by a new figure to the tune of $5 billion from education funding.
Kirsten Perez, director of GUSD Fiscal Services, thinks that final number will eventually land somewhere between $2 and $5 billion.
“All negotiations at the state level have really failed,” she said.
A $5 billion reduction, she noted, would lower education funding levels backward by a decade.
Perez says the next step is for Gov. Jerry Brown to revise the budget by mid-May and provide the districts with more information, which will help GUSD hone in on what the target is.
“We’re really looking for that May revise to provide some clear direction on what number we can be using in going forward,” she said.
In reality, however, Perez candidly pointed out GUSD probably won’t get that number by the time they need to adopt their budget locally on June 15.
As schools get pinched harder and harder, she said there will have to be some relief or flexibility from the state in order for districts to remain financially solvent. This might include reducing the school year to less than 175 days, or not slapping districts with oversized class penalties.
Athletics, school closure
Either way, while the state gets its act together, trustees will have to take measures to tackle the crisis.
They’ll revisit cost savings from shutting down transportation, athletics programs or an entire elementary school given the number of students enrolling in Gilroy Prep School, a brand new charter set to open August 2011.
With the statutory March 15 deadline to announce certificated layoffs come and gone, GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores reminded laying off additional staff for the 2011-12 school year isn’t an option.
One thing’s for certain, none of the trustees were in favor of class sizes increases. As GUSD Board President Rhoda Bress put it, squeezing more students into a classroom would be synonymous with “bending a twig until it breaks.”
As it is, teachers in the fourth through 12th grades are looking at possible head counts of 34 to 38 students per class next year.
“We’re going to have to go with some of those big programs,” said Bress, who doesn’t think closing a school is a good idea but said it’s something they’ll have to look into.
According to figures provided by district staff in February, GUSD would save $414,381 from closing an elementary school and $787,237 from closing a middle school.
Trustee Fred Tovar said he’s received “calls and calls” pleading to not cut athletics.
“It’s where it’s come to,” he said. “That’s where we’re at. We need people to come join us in this fight.”
According to figures provided in February, slashing athletics at the high school level would yield an expected savings of $572,510. For middle school athletics, expected savings are $125,172.
In the coming weeks, Flores and a few trustees will be working in a smaller subcommittee, taking initiative to “open the lines of communication,” as trustee Dom Payne put it. Some of the efforts will include engaging the Gilroy City Council, business sector and community in finding ways to address the issues at hand.
“There should be no sacred cows in how to approach it,” said Rosso. “We need to invest in ourselves. What better investment than education?”
