County Schools Brace for Midyear Funding Cuts

Ventura County’s largest school districts could each lose up to $1 million in state funding next month when the Legislature ponders unprecedented midyear budget cuts.

Though school officials from Oxnard to Simi Valley say they can weather the hit, they are bracing for more devastating funding slashes next year.

The business chiefs for 20 school districts met last week to discuss Gov. Gray Davis’ proposed cuts in K-12 education spending, part of a $2.24-billion plan to make up a projected revenue shortfall in this year’s state budget.

They also began crafting positions they will forward to statewide lobbying groups and agreed to brainstorm on the subject monthly.

“We believe the cuts now, though they will hurt, are not a threat to the solvency of our school districts,” said Stan Mantooth, head of business services for the Ventura County superintendent of schools office. “But everyone is worried about what is coming in the next year--it’s a frightening prospect.”

With the state facing a potential $12.4-billion budget deficit, districts are scrambling to find places to curtail spending while dealing with increased costs and a need to keep up a state-mandated 3% reserve fund.

In the Oxnard Elementary School District, for example, a potential $973,000 loss from the midyear cuts comes on the heels of $1.5 million in lost revenue the district used to receive each year for holding classes on a year-round schedule.

That funding, which dropped from $2.1 million to $500,000 over the last two years, is expected to be cut even further, said Sandra Rosales, business manager for the district. This year’s reductions can be absorbed by the reserve fund, which is designated for economic uncertainties, she said.

But next year that won’t be the case.

“We’re looking forward to a very austere period,” she said.

The same is true in the Simi Valley Unified School District, the largest in the county with 21,181 students.

“We’re creating a list, but not making a decision yet,” said business manager Lowell Schultze. “The last thing you want to cut is anything that affects the learning process.”

This is not new territory for Ventura County, Mantooth said. School districts were in a similar position during the recession of the 1990s, when schools slashed everything from music programs to reading specialists. He added, however, that never before was the pressure so great to boost student achievement, as measured by standardized test scores.

“The state is saying they will keep cuts away from those programs, but we don’t know how that can be done,” Mantooth said.

California lawmakers will meet in a special session in January to vote on the proposed cuts. Most crucial on the list, local school officials said, is discretionary money districts can use for any purpose.

About $325 million in those unrestricted funds--including $250 million in one-time relief funding for skyrocketing energy costs--is proposed for elimination by Davis.

That money will be the priority for state lobbying groups in coming weeks, said Jeff Baarstad, an assistant superintendent in the Hueneme School District.

Officials said they would rather see money for specific programs cut than the crucial dollars that cover salaries and increasing energy bills.

“Our message is keep the cake, cut the icing,” said Baarstad, who serves on the business committee of the Assn. of School Administrators.

But some don’t want the icing cut back either. Among the programs on the chopping block next month is the Peer Assistance and Review Program, in which veteran educators mentor new teachers. The year-old program has worked very well throughout the county, and districts will fight to keep it funded, Mantooth said.

Helen O’Donnell, president of the Ventura Unified Education Assn., said teachers agree that the unrestricted funding is the most important to keep intact.

Only a few districts in Ventura County have reached agreements on next year’s salaries for teachers, and most acknowledge there will be little money for raises, Mantooth said. In Ventura, O’Donnell said officials agreed to suspend talks until after the Legislature meets next month.

The state’s increase in education funding last year enabled many Ventura County districts to give employees double-digit pay raises that could be difficult to maintain.

“We have fought really long and really hard to get to the place we are now,” she said. “It’s really frustrating.”