School district officials announced at the Monday, May 15, board meeting that it appears the state still plans to cut $353 in average daily attendance money per student, but nothing beyond that — resulting in the more than $2 million shortfall. The announcement came after Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his May revised budget earlier in the day.
“It sounds like a negative is a positive these days,” said Steve Menge, the district’s assistant superintendent of administrative services. “We’re close to where we anticipated.”
Both Menge and Superintendent Esther Corral-Carlson hope to get more details on the matter today.
“If (the state) goes beyond the $353, we’re going to have to do some serious analysis,” Corral-Carlson said after Monday’s meeting.
The board of trustees will review a draft budget during its June 6 meeting, with plans to adopt a budget June 20.
The district has been bracing for the worst as state officials contend with a $25 billion budget gap. Brown has proposed to fund half of that shortfall through state cuts, while the remaining $12.5 billion would be covered a five-year tax extension.
Initially, he sought to gain approval of the extension, which has been controversial with Republicans, by placing an initiative on the June ballot. Now, he is trying to do it through legislative approval.
In preparation for tough times ahead, trustees approved sending layoff notices to 21 district employees in early March and then voted last month to cut or scale back 13 more positions.
Previously, the district had lost only 1½ job positions district-wide within the past three years, even as it cut its budget back by more than $4.1 million. The district made past reductions by choosing not to replace people who left their positions, through furlough days and with reductions in supplies and conference expenses.
• Contact Jonathan Partridge at 892-6187 or jonathan@pattersonirrigator.com.
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