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| INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR CURRENT AND NEXT TWO FISCAL YEARS (UNRESTRICTED GENERAL FUND) Press Release - March 23, 2010 February 17, 2010 Budget Communication Team November 18, 2009 State Receivership State Budget Overview May 20, 2009 Federal Stimulus Funds March 20, 2009 February 20, 2009 Status Report on Federal Stimulus Debate in the Senate January 28, 2009 Superintendent's Budget Reduction Recommendation April 4, 2008 February 2008 October 18, 2007 August 24, 2007 Contacting State and Federal Legislators We Need Your Help With the Budget! |
 INCOME AND EXPENSES FOR CURRENT AND NEXT TWO FISCAL YEARS (UNRESTRICTED GENERAL FUND)
Please take a moment to check out this chart,
which is a pictorial of the unrestricted general fund budget base on
our last financial report and what we think the next two years will look
like after the Board cuts of $1.6 million in on-going savings that were
approved on March 3.
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Press Release - March 23, 2010
Today
Chico Unified School District announced that the budget for 2009-10
will move from a "negative" to a "qualified" status when they present
their revisions at the Board meeting on Wednesday, March 24, 2010.
The
budget improvement is the result of decisions made by the Board and
administration over the last several weeks and months, including:
- $1.6
million in on-going savings beginning in 2010-11 from decisions the
Board made on March 3, 2010, including: relocating Academy for Change to
the Fair View campus, increasing class size in alternative education
programs, elimination of two administrative positions, elimination of
the district's "roving" custodial crew, and other reductions to special
education, counseling and psychologist services as a result of reduced
enrollments
- $1.8
million in one-time state grant money removed from the 2009-10 budget,
including monies that had been earmarked for textbook replacement
- $466,000
in unanticipated one-time money received from the state for
reimbursement of costs related to the removal of an underground fuel
tank at ChicoHigh School, a reimbursement claim that was fifteen years
old
- $350,000
saved because the majority of permanent teachers laid off at the end of
2008-09 have now been placed in other jobs and are no longer
substituting
- $169,000 in other miscellaneous adjustments
The
improvement is short-lived unless other cuts can be made by June. In
June the Board will approve its 2010-11 school year budget. At that
time, the 2011-12 projections will have to be brought into balance or
the district slips right back into an unapproved budget status.
$9.4
million of additional cuts are needed to bring the budget into balance
over the next two years. In order to close the gap, the district
continues to look at options:
- The
district has a proposal on the table with its employee groups to trim
$5.88 million through the use of furlough days and reductions in
compensation; these reductions require union approval.
- Other
proposals scheduled for discussion by the Board during April and May
include potentially eliminating bussing except for special education,
consolidation or school closures, and options for leasing space to
generate additional income.
Anyone with suggestions about the Chico USD budget please contact Jan Combes or a school or district administrator or member of the Board of Trustees.
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February 17, 2010 Budget Communication Team November 18, 2009 State Receivership
On
Wednesday, October 21, Joel Montero from Fiscal Crisis and Management
Assistance Team (FCMAT) visited Chico to discuss what it means if CUSD
must utilize a state loan. Mr. Montero was here for the day and held
separate meetings with the District Leadership Team and CSEA/CUTA
representatives before addressing the Board on Wednesday evening. Among
the many interesting things we learned is that the State does not loan
us money from the State budget but that the Infrastructure Bank issues
bonds on the behalf of CUSD that CUSD must then repay at the going
interest rate.
Currently,
CUSD is predicting to dip precariously low on cash in November 2009 and
again in August 2010. In September the Board authorized short term
borrowing from other funds of the district, primarily developer fee
funds, for the 2009-2010 school year. The crisis, however, hits in
August 2010 when CUSD is projected to run out of cash. At that point,
there may be insufficient local funds to borrow. Further complicating
the situation, the district must be able to pay back any local borrowing
by June 2011, which does not appear possible based on the budget
assumptions currently in place for the 2010-11 budget year. In
addition, the state itself is falling short of income projections.
Districts across the state are bracing for possible mid-year cuts in
January, which would make an already terrible situation worse. Against
this backdrop, the district is revising its budget for 2009-10 and
trying to ascertain just when -- and if -- cash shortfalls will occur in
2010-11. The district does not know definitively yet if cash solvency
will be an issue in 2010 or in 2011, but if cash is needed before June
2011, the process to start the application for an emergency
apportionment must be part of legislation sponsored in January 2010.
FCMAT
is recommending to its Board that CUSD be declared a district in fiscal
crisis. This allows FCMAT to do an independent review of our situation
that is paid for by the FCMAT budget, rather than by CUSD. In the
meantime, we will keep everyone posted as we continue efforts to resolve
our budget issues locally. Mr. Montero shared that a state loan, the
debt service on that loan, the salary of the State Administrator and
his/her staff, and other receivership expenses would cost the district
25% more than if we resolved our budget issues without the interference
of the State. I promise to do all I can to keep that additional 25% in
Chico to meet the needs of our own students and address our many
existing educational needs.
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State Budget Overview
August 5, 2009
On
February 19, 2009, the California State Legislature implemented massive
mid-year cuts to California Schools for 2008-09 and adopted a 2009-10
State Budget that cut the funding expected for 2009-10 back to below
levels received two years ago.
At
the same time the State provided flexibility to schools on a variety of
state funded programs, putting the onus on individual school districts
to develop their budget priorities and cut what they felt they could
survive without. Not only was funding cut, but shifts in cash payments
forced many districts into a cash crisis.
CUSD
was forced to focus its resources quickly in response to the impact of
the February 19, 2009, Budget. Potential layoff notices were required to
be provided to teachers by March 15. Other issues, such as purchasing
state adopted textbooks to implement the new math standards were
required to be in place for the 2009-10 school year. Many decisions had
to be made quickly. CUSD was projected to run out of cash as early as
October 2009. In order to be able to make payroll, the district would
need to sell Tax Revenue Anticipation Notes (TRANs) to interested
investors. These notes would produce much needed cash that would have to
be paid back by June, 2010. In order to qualify for TRANs the Board
made some very difficult decisions in March 2009 to increase class size
from 20:1 to 30:1 for K-3 as well as take advantage of many other
flexibility provisions afforded by the State Budget.
Much
of the State Budget was based on the passing of several key
Propositions on May 19, 2009. All of these failed miserably at the
polls, sending a clear message to the State to fix the problem in other
ways. The Legislature reconvened to try to solve a gap that had grown to
$24.3 billion. To put this number in perspective, the state needed to
make adjustments equivalent to almost 25% of its budget in order to get
back in balance. The "May Revise" indicated that schools would be cut by
an additional $219 per student, representing $2.7M of funding for
us. This potential cut would require us to revisit our priorities and
force us to make additional reductions in staff and programs. A
previously untested code provision that would allow us to issue layoff
notices to staff by August 15 was dusted off and many districts prepared
for a second round of layoffs.
In
June we also received a bit of good news: we would be receiving $4.4
million of one-time federal assistance dollars, called School Fiscal
Stabilization Funds (SFSF). These dollars would help us with cash in the
bank, and they could be used to offset the devastating news of the
funding cut due to the continued collapse of state funding for
education.
When
the Board adopted the 2009-10 Budget on June 24, 2009, it was 18 weeks
after the first mid-year cuts hit the District in February, five weeks
after the failure of the Propositions, and three weeks after we received
notification of the federal funds. The point being that everything was
happening very quickly and the State Budget was still an unknown. In
the absence of raising taxes, the State would be making drastic and
severe cuts to education and there was talk of suspending the
Proposition 98 funding guarantee for schools.
Due
to the short timeline, it was impossible to identify what expenses the
District would attempt to "save" with the SFSF. It was clear, that the
federal government sent this money with the anticipation that it would
be used, quickly, to restore or retain jobs.
CUSD
adopted their 2009-10 Budget with the intent that the SFSF funds would
be used to pay for existing priorities and to retain existing staff.
To
put our 2009-10 Budget in perspective: The adopted budget identifies
that expenses exceed income by $4.7 million in 2009-10, $6.9 million in
2010-11 and $7.9 million in 2011-12. The District needs to find a way to
cut expenses (or find additional revenue) of about $6.5 million a year,
averaged over the three year period. The District has sufficient
reserves, to get through 2009-10 and part of 2010-11. These extra
reserves are the direct result of two things: 1) the SFSF Federal Funds
which arrived in June; and 2) the recapture of state categorical grants
allowed by the February 19 flexibility measures. Since these are all
one-time monies, it is clear that unless the budget is brought into
balance by 2010-11 the District will quickly fall into state
receivership.
On
June 24, 2009, the Board also passed a resolution to clearly
communicate our intent to pursue reductions in salaries, benefits, or
both with our employees in order to help bring the budget in line.
On
July 22, 2009, the Educational Services team proposed to the Board that
the following priorities be funded from SFSF dollars for
2009-10: International Baccalaureate, Safe Schools, School Improvement
Program, Secondary Specialized Programs, Pupil Retention Promotion Block
Grant, Academy for Change, Cal Safe Pregnant Minors Program, and the
Peer Review and Assistance Program for Teachers (PAR). These programs
employ about 40 full time equivalent positions and cost about $2.2
million. The second half of the SFSF fund is carried over for the
purpose of being spent in 2010-11. The Board concurred with these
recommendations. They were consistent with the priorities identified in
March.
On
July 23, 2009, the State Legislature passed the revised State
Budget. The education-related trailer bill (ABX4) was subsequently
signed into law this week by the Governor. The District will update the
Board on what we know now about these latest changes. It is clear that
the state has used accounting tricks to try to avoid the suspension of
Proposition 98. Additional flexibility measures have been passed, such
as the ability to spend zero dollars on maintenance if a district can
find a way to keep its facilities in good shape in other ways. Many of
the provisions are too late to act on for the state of the 2009-10
school year, but we will need to walk through what they might mean to us
either now or in 2010-11. It is important to note that among the
changes is the authority for a district to choose to offer 175 days of
school instead of the previously required 180 -- however they did not
mandate this change, which will make it difficult to implement with
collective bargaining agreements that are in place in many districts.
It
will be several weeks before we are able to work the details into our
budget and multi-year projections so the presentation will include only
the highlights of "what we think we know" --- the impact of the
financial details will be acted on by the Board within 45 days, as
required by law, around the middle of September.
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May 20, 2009
| The following two PowerPoint presentations were presented at the May 20, 2009, Special Board Meeting. |
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Federal Stimulus Funds
April 24, 2009
Chico
Unified School District is reading all information regarding the
Federal Stimulus funds and awaiting official notices of entitlements.
At this point all posted documents are estimates only. The funds will
come to us through the State of California and until we receive official
notification we cannot act on these dollars.
So, what do we know? We know there are three parts and that these are one-time dollars:
Title I fund, Special Education funds, and what appears to be the most
flexible portion: the School Fiscal Stabilization Funds (SFSF). We
think that:
- Title I funds will follow schools eligible to receive them; these one time dollars will be discussed at the site level by Principals with input from the School Site Council which includes parents
- Special
Education funds will be part of a our allocations from Butte County
Office of Education; we expect that there is a maintenance of effort
(MOE) requirement that will follow these dollars; in other words, they
will need to be used to pay for additional costs over and above what the
district spent in 2007-08. While these dollars will help us with the
increasing costs of this growing population, we must keep in mind that
they will be one-time monies and that these are estimated
grants only. The estimates provided by the federal government are
provided solely to assist in comparisons of the relative impact of
alternative formulas and funding levels in the legislative process. It
is ultimately the responsibility of the Department of Education and
states to subgrant funds to LEAs. These estimates are not intended to
predict specific amounts LEAs will receive.
- School
Fiscal Stabilization Funds: Chico USD applied for their share of this
funding early this week. We have not received any notification of how
much these one-time dollars mean for our district. Once we have
that information we can begin planning for how to allocate those funds.
We must remember that the District currently projects a budget
shortfall of $4.8 M for 2009-10 and $6.3 M for 2010-11 AFTER moving to
30:1 for next year at Grades K-3 and AFTER taking advantage of
flexibility provisions provided by the State in the recent Budget Act.
We anticipate that our fiscal advisor will require us to use these funds
to balance the shortfall, if allowable, rather than to allocate these
funds to schools and programs for additional expenses.
Please know that we will do whatever we can to inform our principals, parents and community about these one-time dollars when we know more.
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March 20, 2009
CUSD
began the 2007-2008 school year with the declaration of a negatively
certified budget—the recognition that without drastic structural changes
to our budget, our District would not be able to meet its fiscal
obligations, including the ability to pay its employees.
After
receiving much input and support from the Chico community, our Board
then made some extremely difficult budget reductions in the Spring of
2008. As a result of CUSD making these difficult but necessary
decisions last year, our fiscal advisor, Sheila Vickers, was optimistic
that CUSD would regain a positive budget certification in the Fall of
2008.
Then
the State and National budget crisis hit. Unfortunately, the severity
of the fiscal crisis in California directly and very negatively impacted
our district. Because state revenues are critically diminished due to a
huge decrease in tax revenues, California will not be able to provide
the dollars for education that we (and all other school districts in the
state) counted on.
By
reducing—in the middle of the year—the amount of money per student we
earn this year in addition to reducing the amount of money per student
we will earn next year, the legislature and the governor are directly
impacting the education of CUSD's 12,500 students. Not only does this
action keep our current budget in a negative certified status, our
projections for future years now need extensive revision.
Without
these revisions, in August of this year our district will be unable to
meet payroll for our 1100+ employees. CUSD was already making plans to
pursue a loan (Tax Revenue Anticipation Note or TRANs), in anticipation
of future tax revenues. However, if our board does not take now the
necessary actions to close our budget gap, we will not be eligible for
this loan, creating a need to borrow money from the state. That action
would automatically trigger a state takeover of our district, something
none of us wants for our community.
In
the event of state receivership, our school Board will lose all of its
powers—not just its fiscal powers—immediately. The Board—and the
Chico community through the Board—would not regain full local control
for the life of the loan, approximately 20 years. The state of
California would come to Chico in the form of a state-appointed
administrator. This person would have the power to make all decisions
and to hire administrators as needed to augment their team, with the
sole responsibility of bringing about fiscal recovery. This would
include scrutinizing all of our programs and slashing any that are not
required by law. The cost of this team would be at the district's
expense, in addition to making the loan payments back to the state with
interest. While we believe employee contracts would not be immediately
affected, we do believe that the State would move to quickly
unilaterally implement changes to those contracts. Bottom line—someone
from Sacramento with no ties to our community would make decisions
regarding our families and our employees--and they would not be required
to listen to the voice of the Chico community. One need look no
further than any of the Bay Area districts already taken over by the
State to recognize the negative impact a lack of local voice for this
extended period of a time would have on our school district--further
decline in enrollment, disenfranchised parents, community and staff,
increased administrative overhead, and a expensive and lengthy road to
return to local control.
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February 20, 2009
Budget Update: In
the wee hours of Thursday morning, February 19, the state crafted a
budget deal. The deal includes cuts for schools that are mid-year cuts
for 2008-09 and establishes our 2009-10 budget from the state. By
getting next year's budget outlined, school districts can plan for
staffing reductions needed to keep pace with the program changes
proposed. The overall proposed budget solution includes $15 billion in
cuts, $14.4 billion in temporary revenues, and $11 billion of
borrowing.
TEMPORARYSTATE REVENUE INCREASES:
A sales tax increase of 1.0 percent
Increase in the Vehicle License Fees of up to 1.0 percent of the car's value
Reduction of the dependent care tax credit
Income tax surcharge of 2.5 percent
To
enact these proposals a statewide special election will need to be held
on May 19 of this year. Voters will be asked to approve the passage of a
modified spending cap. If the spending cap is approved by voters, then
the revenues will stay in effect through the 2012/13 fiscal year. If the
spending cap is not approved by voters, then the revenue will stay in
effect for only 24 months after their enactment.
Reduction in School Funding
Current
year (2008-09) K-12 funding cuts total $1.88 billion. It eliminates the
current year .68% revenue limit COLA, provided for last September. This
agreement does not make the entire cut through a revenue limit
reduction. The remainder of the reduction is split 50/50 - with half
coming from revenue limits (a little over 1% additional cut) and the
remainder through a 15% ($944 million overall) cut to over 50
categorical programs.
2008-09
per student funding base is $6,128.62. However, the state will fund 92
cents on the dollar and provide $5,624.89, about $480 less per student
than we deserve under Proposition 98 and about $215 less than we had
been budgeting for. Our budget just took a mid-year hit of $2.6 million.
For
2009-10 the cost of living increase of 5.02% that is due schools under
Proposition 98 has evaporated in this deal. Full funding of $6,436.28
per student is reduced to 87 cents on the dollar to $5,593.51,
representing $842.77 less per student than full funding, and $246 less
per student than we previously reported to the Board in December when
preparing our First Interim Report. This is a loss of a little more than
$3 million.
To help offset these cuts, the budget deal provides some flexibility in grant funded programs.
Categorical Program Cuts & Flexibility
The
budget agreement protected many programs that the legislature believes
are priorities. The categorical programs are divided into three groups
or "Tiers".
Tier I Categorical Programs (No Reduction or Flexibility)
* Child Nutrition
* Economic Impact Aid (EIA = part of our School Based Coordinated Plan or SBCP Funds)
* Proposition 49 after school programs (ASES)
* Special Education
* Quality Education Investment Act
* Home-to-School Transportation
*
K-3 Class Reduction is considered a Tier I (no reduction); as far as
flexibility however there is flexibility in the application of penalty
provisions (so keep reading, we address this below)
Tier II Categorical Programs
15.45 % Reduction in 2008-09 and 4.5% Reduction in 2009-10 with no flexibility.
* Partnership Academies
* State Testing
* English Language Acquisition Program
* Agriculture-Vocational Education
* CharterSchool Facilities Grants (will affect Forest Ranch)
* K-12 High Speed Network
Tier III Categorical Programs
15.45 % Reduction in 2008-09 and 4.5% Reduction in 2009-10 with flexibility to transfer these program dollars to any "educational purpose" including general fund and special education. The flexibility stays in place for 2008-09 through 2012-13.
Basically
all other state funded categorical programs including all block grants,
community day school funding, SB 1802 Counselors, GATE, Instructional
Materials Funding, International Baccalaureate, ROP funds, School Safety
Funds, Supplemental Hourly Program funds, School Improvement Funds
(this represents a substantial portion of School Based Coordinated Plan
funds that are allocated to schools), Pupil Retention/Promotion Block
Grant, Professional Development Block Grant (i.e., teacher in-service
days that are built into the CUTA salary schedule), and Art and Music
Block Grant funds.
K-3 Class Size Reduction Flexibility
There
is no change to the statutory requirements of the K-3 class size
reduction program. The change occurs in the penalty provision should a
class exceed the current 20.44 to 1 ratio. The following changes to the
penalties will remain in effect, we think, for at least three years:
Up to 20.44 - No penalty
20.45 to 21.44 - 5% penalty (currently it's a 20% penalty)
21.45 to 22.44 - 10% penalty (currently it's a 40% penalty)
22.45 to 22.94 - 15% penalty (currently all funding is lost at this level)
22.95 to 24.94 - 20% penalty
24.95 or more is 30% (with no cap)
One
issue that we are still working through is the application of the
penalty. We are not sure how it will be applied. But it appears that if
the district increased class size to as high as 30 students, that some
level of funding would still be provided --- up to 70%. This is an area
we will be researching over the next several weeks.
Prior-Year Categorical Reserves
The
budget deal authorizes districts to access ending fund balances as of
June 30, 2008, (from the 2007-08 school year only), from most
restricted, categorical program accounts - to use for any educational
purpose. Some categorical programs are protected and will remain
restricted and bound by regulations for their specific use:
Economic Impact Aid (EIA) (SBCP funds - the portion for English Language Learners)
Special Education
Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA)
CaliforniaHigh School Exit Exam Supplement Services (CAHSEE)
The budget agreement makes several other changes in an effort to assist school districts in mitigating mid-year reductions:
Routine
Maintenance Reserves - Reduces the amount that school districts are
required to set aside in "routine restricted maintenance accounts" from
3% to 1% of their General Fund budgets, for the current year plus 4
years.
Deferred Maintenance - Eliminates the local 1/2% statutory match for deferred maintenance, for the current year plus 4 years.
For
CUSD Redevelopment Dollars make up about 1.9% of our maintenance
expenses; we could reduce maintenance by $700,000, rather than the full
$1.5 million provided by this change in law.
The budget agreement makes no changes to
current law requirements for: 1) number of instructional days/minutes,
2) minimum general fund reserves for economic uncertainties (3% for most
LEAs); or 3) suspension of state mandates.
Budget Stabilization
ACA
3X 1 (Niello), which will appear on the May 19 ballot as Proposition
1B, establishes a state rainy day fund. This would allow the state to
set aside one-time income from capital gains and other one-time tax
improvements to be used to fund outstanding obligations rather than
create new programs or services. The rainy day fund would be spent in
the following order of priority:
1. Outstanding Proposition 98 obligations
2. Debt service
3. One-time infrastructure or other capital outlay purposes
4. Additional debt retirement
5. Unfunded liabilities for vested non pension benefits for state annuitants
6. Transfer by statute to the Budget Stabilization Fund
Over
the next several weeks and months we will be reviewing our staffing and
funding sources and trying to come up with the best budget that we can,
during these dire times, to continue to provide services for our
students.
It
is apparent that the state's 42 billion dollar budget gap has been
"patched" - and now we need to identify what impact that has on our
budget, and how much bigger our fiscal problems have become. By next
Friday's update we hope to be able to have defined what this means, in
total, for CUSD.
Thank you again for your patience and support.
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Status Report on Federal Stimulus Debate in the Senate
Chico
Unified School District is facing a potential shortfall of about $15
million over the next two years. The majority of the budget shortfall
is the result of proposed mid-year cuts of $300 per student this year
and another $138 per student in 2009-10. The Governor is proposing to
cut school funding by over 16% for next year.
One
bright spot on the horizon has been a little relief from federal funds.
Senate Bill 336 is the Federal Stimulus Bill. Early estimates predict
about $800,000 in additional Title I funds for 2008-09 and 2009-10, as
well as about $1.5 M of funding per year for our district for special
education needs. In addition there is a one time allotment for school
construction of $2.4 M in the package.
One
thing that is unclear is if the state would pass this funding through
intact to schools or if some -- or all -- of the funding could be used
to offset state budget shortfalls.
Meanwhile, as of Thursday, February 5, 2009, we learned the following:
The
Senate just recessed after a full day of debate on amendments to S.336
the federal stimulus bill. Some amendments did pass and some failed
bringing the total package to $900 billion. The Senate will reconvene
Friday at 10:00 am to resume debate and a final vote on S.336. Due to
the significant criticism of the cost and a laundry list of "pork
barrel" items including zoos and golf courses, a bipartisan group of
Senators are working off the floor to pare down the package by $50 to
$100 billion. This puts at risk some of the education funds. It is
estimated that $53 B of the $138 B school package is at risk.
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January 28, 2009
On
Wednesday, January 28, 2009, Jan Combes made a presentation to the
School Board about the Governor's Budget Proposal. The Governor's
proposals are extremely detrimental for ChicoUnifiedSchool District. As
a district we were very close to having resolved our own budget
problems when the state economy eroded. Over the last three months the
state's projected shortfall has grown from $27.8 B to $41.7 B. Over the
same period of time the districts expected shortfall has grown from
$5.7 M ($1 M this year and $4.7 for 2009-10) to $14.8 M ($4.7 M this
year and $10.1 M in 2009-10).
Mid-year
cuts are expected of over $300 per student in revenue limit
(ADA funding alone), with additional cuts in 2009-10 of $138 per
student. Another way to say that we just slid backwards to funding that
was less, per pupil, than what the district received in 2006-07:
Rates for the last three years as compared with current rate:
2005-06 $5,161.80
2006-07 $5,547.62
2007-08 $5,799.62
2008-09 proposed $5,535.00 (last July we expected $6,128.62)
2009-10 proposed $5,397.20 (last July we expected $6,424.63)
In
order to survive a reduction in funding of this size and scope, the
Governor has proposed some flexibility. Included in his proposals are
the opportunity to return to class sizes of 30:1 at K-3 and still keep
the $3.7 M that the district receives to offer instruction at 20:1.
These are only proposals but the district must proceed as if the
Governor's proposals will be enacted. We must be very conservative and
plan to take advantage of as much of the flexibility provisions as we
can. Then, if they happen, we will be ready.
These
are serious times for our district and we need to try to support each
other every way possible to get through the next several weeks and
months.
Please review the presentation which has been posted at:
http://www.chicousd.org/__dept/business/budgets/2008-2009.html
Contact Jan Combes if you have questions.
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The
state is expected to run out of cash in February. Many folks wonder
what that does to schools. Schools are protected, somewhat, as being a
required apportionment in the state Constitution. That does not mean
that we are not at risk, if the situation does not improve, but it does
mean we are on the end of the list rather than the beginning.
For more information please refer to:
http://www.sco.ca.gov/eo/fiscalissues/payments01-2009a.html |
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Superintendent's Budget Reduction Recommendation
April 9, 2008
CUSD
must identify $7 million in budget reductions for 2008-09 in order to
balance its budget. Over 250 budget reduction ideas were submitted by
the public, our teachers, classified staff and administration. These
ideas, and more, have been under review by Budget Subcommittees
consisting of staff, parents and community members. The Superintendent's Budget Reduction Recommendation totals $2.8 million.
This
recommendation was presented to the Board on April 9, 2008, at Chico
High School, Williams Theatre, 5:15pm for discussion and public input.
The Board approved this recommendation at the Regular Board Meeting on
April 16, 2008, at the Chico City Council Chambers, at 7:00 p.m.
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April 4, 2008
CUSD
Superintendent Kelly Staley released the Superintendent's Budget
Reduction Recommendation today. This recommendation includes closing
schools, eliminating positions, cutting athletic programs, and
streamlining district services.
"Nothing
about this recommendation is easy," said Staley. "I am painfully aware
that these recommendations represent, among other things, the
elimination of some outstanding programs for our students, the closing
of small community schools, and the release of dedicated employees."
CUSD
had a negatively certified budget and was planning to reduce
expenditures for the 2008-2009 school year. However, due to the
financial uncertainty of the state budget, the district has been forced
to consider a much broader scope of reductions. "The state budget will
not be adopted until later in the year. Therefore, we need to hope for
the best, but plan for the worst," reiterated Staley.
A
projected budget gap for next year of $3 million grew to $8.5 in
January when the Governor announced his proposals for schools, making
across the board cuts and reducing district funding by about 7%. By
March, the district had issued potential layoff notices needed to align
staffing with the number of students projected for next year, and was
able to reduce the size of the budget gap to $7 million.
Should
the governor's proposal not be adopted and the CUSD budget recovers,
Staley indicated that staff will develop a plan to re-establish programs
and reinstate staff.
|
February 2008
Dear CUSD Community,
Chico
Unified School District is facing the largest budget deficit in our
history. Depending on the final state budget that is adopted, we will
need to cut between $3 million and $8.5 million dollars.
As 91% of our unrestricted general fund dollars are allocated to salaries and benefits, we must reduce personnel. All employee groups: administration, certificated, and classified staff, will be affected by this action. Our Board must make some very difficult decisions. In order to create maximum flexibility in making these decisions, many more people will be notified than will likely lose their jobs.
Timelines regarding layoff notification for Certificated Personnel are listed below. Click on the following for a list of Board Meeting Dates and Locations. If you have specific questions about this process, please contact Bob Feaster, Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources at 891-3000, ext. 142.
We
are facing an unprecedented crisis in our district. During these very
stressful times, it is important that we continue to offer quality
educational programs for our students. Keeping the lines of
communication open is critical as we all weather this storm together. As
always, please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns, or
suggestions.
Sincerely,
Kelly Staley, Superintendent
(530) 891-3000, ext. 149
|
October 18, 2007
For
a number of reasons including declining enrollment, increases in
employee costs and incorrect income projections, Chico Unified School
District has a $400,000 deficit this school year. Not correcting the
problem now will mean we will be $2.5 million in the red next year. If
we can't find solutions, the State of California will appoint people to
come into our district, cut programs and staff, and bring our budget
into balance. The bottom line is that we are spending more than we are making each year.
Just
as overspending doesn't work in your own household budgets, it's
unacceptable for our district. We need to make some changes, and do it
quickly. We have in place a budget committee that is coming up with
suggestions to correct this problem. We are considering ways that we
could become much more efficient in terms of staffing while still
honoring contracts with our employee groups. It is possible that some
shifting in classroom assignments for the 2007-08 school year will be
taking place.
If
you have ideas we could use, please email them to jcombes@chicousd.org
or you may use our confidential budget tipline at 891-3000 ext 200. This
problem affects all students, parents, and staff in our school
community. Please help be part of the solution.
Click here for more detailed information.
|
August 24, 2007
August 24, 2007
JOINT PRESS RELEASE
BUTTE COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION
AND CHICO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
On
July 30 the District received a letter from Randy Meeker, Assistant
Superintendent of Administrative Services for Butte County Office of
Education. The letter provided the district with a "conditional
approval" of the district's 2007-08 Adopted Budget. Today the
administrative team of the Chico Unified School District met with
representatives from the Butte County Office of Education.
The
county expressed concern that the district had been spending beyond its
means for several years and was subsequently $1.1 million dollars below
the required reserve level. In addition multi-year budget projections
showed a worsening situation with reserves fully depleted by the end of
2008-09 if reductions were not made.
All
California school districts are required to maintain an adequate
reserve level to ensure long term fiscal solvency. With an enrollment of
just under 13,000, the CUSD is considered a medium size school district
and is required to maintain a 3% reserve. The annual operating budget
is $105.6 million requiring reserves of $3.2 million. The adopted budget
was only able to identify $2.1 million in reserves.
Several
positive changes have been identified while the district has been in
the process of closing the books for the 2006-07 fiscal year. About
$700,000 of improvements to the budget have been found, $517,000 of
which is attributable to the food services department. While the food
services department had been budgeted to deficit spend in 2006-07,
income was up and expenses were down. Credit for these changes must go
to the nutrition services department employees who implemented systemic
changes in food service production and processes over the last two
years.
However, the
projected ending balance for the current school year remains about
$400,000 short while the 2008-09 school year continues to project a $2
million dollar deficit. As part of the approval process the county is
requiring the district to identify the needed adjustments to bring the
budget in balance by December 2007.
Chico
Unified School District is scheduling a board workshop to discuss the
2007-08 budget changes in October. In the meantime a team of district
leaders from all educational and operational departments are meeting
weekly to identify needed adjustments. They are also seeking input from
employee groups and community leaders. The team's recommendations for
changes to the budget will be proposed at the CUSD board workshop in
October.
The
district encourages anyone with questions about the Chico Unified School
District budget to contact Jan Combes, Assistant Superintendent at
jcombes@mail.chicousd.org.
|
Contacting State and Federal Legislators
| GOVERNOR |
U.S. Senator |
| Arnold Schwarzenegger |
Barbara Boxer |
| 1st Floor State Capitol |
112 Hart Building |
| Sacramento, CA 95814 |
Washington, DC 20510 |
| (916) 445-2841 |
(916) 448-2787 |
| |
|
| State Senator |
|
| Sam Aanestad |
Dianne Feinstein |
| 411 Main Street |
331 Hart Building |
| Chico, CA 95928 |
Washington, DC 20510 |
| (530) 895-6088 |
(415) 393-0707 |
| |
|
| State Assembly |
U.S. Representative |
| Dan Logue |
Wally Herger |
| 1550 Humboldt Rd., Ste. 4 |
2635 Forest Ave., Ste. 100 |
| Chico, CA 95928 |
Chico, CA 95928 |
| (530) 895-4217 |
(530) 893-8363 |
| |
|
| Jim Nielsen |
|
| 280 Hemsted, Ste. 110 |
|
| Redding, CA 96002 |
|
| (530) 223-6300 |
|
We Need Your Help With the Budget!
Email our Assistant Superintendent of Business, Jan Combes at email. She is gathering ideas and suggestions.
A
reduction in our utility bills will assist in reducing our budget
deficit. We would like to remind employees to close windows and doors
when the A/C is running and to remove any unnecessary energy-using
devices in your classroom/office to save electricity.
Thank you for your help and solutions.
|
|
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