State Budget Cuts Threaten Local Schools

Ventura County schools are bracing for sweeping state budget cuts that could mean reduced pay for teachers, slashed programs and even layoffs in districts from Ojai to Thousand Oaks, officials said.

Gov. Gray Davis last week proposed midyear cuts of $10.2 billion from the state budget to put a dent in the $21-billion deficit. Education, which makes up about 40% of the budget, could be among the hardest areas hit, with a proposal to immediately cut school funding by nearly 4%.

Most local districts would have to drain their healthy savings accounts to cover the proposed cuts, officials said. In some smaller districts, reserve funds won’t cover the shortfall. That means officials will have to consider pay cuts for teachers and classified staff, slash programs or break contracts to lay off teachers.

In tiny Ojai Unified, for example, the $25-million budget would still be $100,000 short even after the school district uses its $700,000 reserve fund.

Jim Berube, assistant superintendent, said it would be difficult to keep cuts out of the classroom unless the state allows districts some flexibility in spending restricted funds, such as money earmarked for textbooks or school improvements.

“This is all new to us. And it’s going to be a real management challenge,” Berube said. “But we will try to keep it away from the classroom in any way we can.”

In south Oxnard, the Hueneme Elementary School District has a $1.9-million reserve fund, but could lose that amount under Davis’ proposal. Spending every cent of the district’s savings account would be irresponsible, Assistant Supt. Jeff Baarstad said.

“If you do that, you haven’t begun to solve your problem,” he said. “You just delay it for six months, and you take away any insurance you had for real emergencies.”

Davis has proposed waiving the state’s requirement that districts maintain a 3% reserve fund through 2004, in hopes that schools could absorb the midyear cuts without disrupting instruction.

But most Ventura County officials said they would not rely on that strategy to solve budget problems. While cuts are permanent, reserve spending is temporary, they said, leaving districts with a larger gap to close in the next budget year.

“That’s scary,” said Gary Mortimer, head of business services for Conejo Valley Unified School District. “What if there was an earthquake? Or a flu epidemic? There are a lot of what-ifs that can come up if you spend down those reserve funds.”

If districts wipe out their savings, they could be left insolvent, said Sandra Rosales, business director for Oxnard’s elementary and middle schools. In the district, where officials are compiling a list of belt-tightening measures, cuts could be anywhere from $2 million to $5 million, she said.”It’s not going to be pretty, whatever it is,” Rosales said.

Meanwhile, as lawmakers hash it all out in Sacramento, many districts are attempting to slow spending.

In the Oxnard Union High School District, teachers last week agreed to make a proposed 2.5% annual salary raise effective for only six months because of the budget uncertainties, Supt. Gary Davis said.

Districts are freezing hiring and cutting expenditures, such as travel, conferences and nonessential purchases.

“We’re already halfway through the school year, and every day that goes by, people are spending money they may not have,” said Stan Mantooth, who oversees school budgets in the Ventura County superintendent of schools office.

Moreover, the midyear cuts come at a time when districts are facing record increases in workers’ compensation and health insurance costs, officials said.

The situation is worse than it has ever been for public schools, said district business officials -- even some who have weathered other budget crises.

“This is a debacle,” Mortimer said. “We’ve had our share of recessionary times, but never anything like this.”

Most school officials disagree with how Gov. Davis is handling the crisis and have their own ideas about how to resolve it.

Cut portions of the state’s standardized testing program, said one Ventura Unified school board member.

Relax strict rules under class-size reduction that allow an average of only 20 children per room, said another district official.

Slash some of the programs that the state invented a few years ago when economic times were good, said Baarstad, the Hueneme official.

“We’d like to see them cut more of the icing and not the cake,” he said. “We know we have to be a part of the state solution, but we want some leadership from them before they hand the problem over to us. I think they need to work a little harder.”