Sequoia District Approves Final Budget, Job Cuts and Furloughs

The officially approved a budget for the upcoming school year, bringing an end to a process which included , and months of discussion.

District Board of Trustees members Alan Sarver, Chris Thomsen and Don Gibson unanimously approved the proposed budget Wednesday night at the district offices in Redwood City.

Board President Lorraine Rumley and trustee Olivia Martinez were absent from the meeting. 

The approved budget trims $5 million from the structural deficit that the district leadership is attempting to cope with. Still, after approving the elimination of 33 positions and implementing two furlough days, and other budget balancing measures, the district may make nearly $4 million worth of cuts next year, according to a district report.

According to Assistant Superintendent Enrique Navas, much of the high school district's financial difficulty stems from the inability of legislators in Sacramento to approve a state budget.

The state budget proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown recommends largely sparing public K-12 grade education funding, in return for tax extensions being passed along to voters for approval.

 But conservative lawmakers, unwilling to support tax extensions, have consistently rejected Gov. Brown's proposal. This has led to a gridlocked budget process, making it difficult for local jurisdictions that are dependent on state funding, such as public school districts, to approve spending plans.

Navas said the district is bracing for a cut of $349 per student in money received from the state. He has characterized this projection as "conservative," but under a worst case scenario, those cuts could skyrocket to more than $800 per student.

District leaders are also expecting the district to suffer reductions in state funding to the tune of $2.8 million in "fair share" money next year, according to Navas. 

School districts that receive a majority of their funding from local property tax revenues, like the Sequoia Union High School District, are subject to fair share cuts.

 

Navas said the future of the district's finances remain up in the air. 

"We are uncertain whether more cuts are coming," said Navas, of what the state government will impose on the district.

Yet, Gibson did indicate the district would likely be forced to implement further personnel cuts in the future in an effort to balance its budget. 

The district's classified workers union, representing employees who are teachers or administrators, suffered 24 of the 33 job cuts approved by the trustees last month.

Those cuts shaved $1.91 million from the district's deficit.

Gibson nodded toward the likelihood that the district's teaching staff would be forced to suffer cuts in coming years.

"Next year we are cutting $4 million," said Gibson. "And we've cut almost everything from the classified workers that we can."

"$4 million. That is the equivalent to 40 teachers. 10 per campus," said Gibson. "I'd suggest we start negotiating as soon as possible because I don't think we can survive losing that much on our campuses.

"

Trustees approved a new contract with the district teachers union at the June 8 meeting. No teachers represented by the Sequoia District Teachers Association lost their job due to cuts, under the recently approved contract.

The contract did feature implementing two work furlough days for district teachers. The furglough days, which will be August 22, 2011, and January 9, 2012, will be unpaid. Classes will not be in session either day due to previously scheduled breaks.

Thomsen said he agreed with Gibson, and said contract negotiations with the district's unions should begin soon. 

He also remarked that though the high school district's budget outlook seems bleak, it finds itself in better financial footing than some similar surrounding districts.

 
Wednesday's board meeting was the last for the 2010-2011 school year. Trustees and district administration will meet again after the summer.

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