CYPRESS : Parents Urged to Lobby for Bigger School Settlement

Cypress School District Supt. William D. Eller is urging parents to write to the county Board of Supervisors to request a better money settlement for school systems in the bankrupt county investment pool.

“We feel we need to have continued parent support,” Eller told a districtwide meeting of parents and school officials Wednesday night at Damron Elementary School.

Eller specifically asked parents to seek a political commitment that would assure all school districts full return of invested money. He said the recent settlement offer to schools appears to ensure a 90% return. Eller said the final 10% of invested school funds needs to be backed by more than just a vague IOU from county government.

Cypress School District has $6.6 million invested in the county fund. Loss of 10% would be $660,000, Eller said.

Even if the school district gets back all of its $6.6 million in invested principal, there will be a $525,000 loss in interest that the money otherwise would have earned, Eller said. He said the interest loss will force some cuts in the school system by June.

If the school district has to absorb a 10% cut, the total loss would be $1,185,000, Eller said. He added that losing so much money would force layoffs.

“Losses of this significance translate into (cutbacks of) people,” Eller said. “There is no way around it.”

Eller said that whatever happens in the bankruptcy, it seems certain that the district will have to absorb at least the $525,000 in lost interest. He said that loss will mean some program cuts, including no summer school this year, but “would be manageable.”