KUSD Seeks Solutions to Budget Crunch
January 13, 2010
A large group of Kernville Union School District teachers and staff turned out for the Jan. 5 board meeting. They came to hear Superintendent Robin Shive speak about additional budget cuts that may be looming in the near future.
Shive shared her new mantra for the 2010-2011 school year, “Keep the cuts far, far away from the students.” Utilizing a PowerPoint presentation titled “Budget Woes 2010-2011: Plan for the worst and hope for the best,” she itemized a list of possible solutions being considered to offset a potential loss of revenue from the state. Some of those include, laying off one teacher, savings from one retiree, a one percent decrease in salaries, a decrease in clerical hour s, an increase in cafeteria meal charges to more accurately reflect actual costs, implementation of a single furlough day for approximately 180 employees.
Shive also stressed the importance of consistent student attendance. She explained the district enrollment is 863 students; but absenteeism, illness, and student transfers would likely account for a state reimbursement for only 806 students, resulting in an anticipated loss of $109,960.
On top of that, the state plans to cut the average daily attendance (ADA) reimbursement rate by $254 per student in the 2010-2011 school year, resulting in a further shortfall of about $204,000.
“We really need to bring up attendance by the end of April,” Shive said. “That is the cut off date to show the state the percentage of our student attendance.”
To encourage additional savings, Shive has implemented a perfect attendance reward incentive for district teachers. She noted teachers like Wallace Elementary School’s Janice Moon not only inspire students with their own perfect attendance, but also save the district money.
Shive and Dennis Voller, MOT Supervisor, provided a brief update on the Wallace Phase III construction. Additional staff parking located behind the new middle school campus is in the works for the near future. Shive added, “This will allow for more parking for parents who are dropping off children.”
Keeping with the philosophy that every little bit counts, the board passed a motion to allow the district to enroll in the SCE Commercial Summer Discount Plan. This would entail SCE installing devices on district compressors which would be turned off remotely for short periods of times during periods of peak electricity consumption during the months of June through October.
Later in t he meeting after board member Ross Elliot commented on his discomfort with the concept of the district’s short-term borrowing from itself by temporarily using cash reserves remaining in the construction fund. Board member Mike Hughes said with the new gym and middle school complete, he’s worried that the remainder of the construction for which the bond was passed may be put on the back burner. “My problem with it is, and
I’m going to speak very bluntly, that was construction bond money and when we sat down about eight years ago and put together the phases, we had certain phases and certain timelines. And we put classrooms first,” Hughes went on to state, “We’re not done with the classrooms, but we’re willing to borrow the money to pay our bills and yet will not give every child in this district the same physical environment that they deserve.”
A brief discussion about replacing the outdated Wallace kindergarten portables followed. Voller said the total cost would be approximately $340,000. Roughly $600,000 remains in the construction fund.
The KUSD Board of Trustees meets regularly on the second Tuesday of each month in the Wallace School Cafetorium.
The public is encouraged to attend.