PUSD Prepares to Make $36 Million in Budget Cuts
January 4, 2010
Pomona Unified School District is preparing to cut $36 million from the 2010-2011 academic year budget that will result in th e loss or reduction of various programs and services.
Members of the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan Community Board said late last week with such deep cuts on the horizon the entire city must rally and find ways to fill the gaps that will result.
The discussion came about after Rev. Rick DeBruyne, a community board member who also serves on the Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee, sought board members opinions in preparation for this morning’s committee meeting.
Committee members, which includes parents, principals, students, labor representatives, clergy and others, will meet at the district Education Center today to prioritize a series of programs that could potentially be cut or scaled back to address the budget shortfall.
Programs range from administrator training and adult education to programs for students who are parents and to help students that need intensive instruction to pass the high school exit exam.
Those programs are paid for with state dollars that traditionally could not be used for other purposes, said Leslie Barnes, the district’s business manager.
Last year the state relaxed some of those restrictions freeing up some of those dollars for other uses, she said.
The advisory committee will also be asked to prioritize a handful of programs paid for out of the district’s general fund but which could also face cuts.
Those programs include visual and performing arts, high school and middle school athletics and health and nursing services.
"We’re no longer talking about cutting fat," DeBruyne told Community Board members Thursday. "We’re talking about flesh and bone and blood."
Last year Pomona Unified was able to avert substantial layoffs thr ough a combination of cuts and one time federal assistance.
This year the district must plan on cutting $23 million the state will not be providing and which equal about 16 percent of the district’s budget. The loss of the that money and the absence of $13 million in federal funds total a cut of $36 million or about 24 percent of the district’s budget, Barnes said.
Since 2003 the district has made budget cut that totaling about $48.9 million, she said.
School district personnel are bracing themselves for the possibility of further state reductions to the education budget that could require additional cuts.
However, that part of the economic picture won’t be clear until January when the governor releases his budget proposal, Barnes said.
Some community board members said this is now the time for all of Pomona to pull together and help the school district meet the educational needs of students.
"The school district is so important in this community," said Jane Taylor executive director of the YMCA of Pomona Valley and a community board member. "Kids are 25 percent of the population but 100 percent of the city’s future."
Pomona must tap all the resources at it’s disposal including businesses, churches, service groups and the various colleges and universities in the city and around it, said Taylor who is also a member of the budget advisory committee.
Each entity can contribute something based on its area of expertise and the school district needs, she said.
By preparing now arrangements can be set in place before any cuts go into effect, Taylor said.
Community Board member Sarah Ross said there will be no way to getting around cuts.
" ;It’s devastating but I think we’re really going to have to be a community and rise to the occasion to educate our students," Ross said.
Although the situation is not an easy one to address the interest of community board members is positive, Pomona Unified Superintendent Richard Martinez.
The problem is not seen as one for the district to bear alone but one that must be shared by the entire community, he said.
"We’re serving the same constituents, the same families," Martinez said.
The entities stepping up "want to make sure were filling the void," he said.