School Districts Face More Budget Pressure from State

January 14, 2010

Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently said he won’t make additional cuts to education, school officials in Butte County learned Tuesday night that the pressure felt locally is far from over.

The governor’s recent budget proposals were the topic of a presentation to county and local district officials by Kevin Bultema, Butte County Office of Education assistant superintendent of business, and Sheila Vickers, vice president of School Services of California. Both attended budget meetings in Sacramento.

According to Bultema and Vickers, local districts and county offices of education face another unfunded cost of living allowance this year, an even greater loss in revenue limit funds, and another decrease in the amount the state pays for average daily attendance, or ADA.

The districts can also expect cashflow problems to continue as the state continues deferral of payments it owes the districts.

Bultema and Vickers carried the information to 70 Butte County school district superintendents and trustees who gathered Tuesday night in Oroville for an annual workshop hosted by the Office of Education.

Attendance included representatives of school districts in Oroville, Chico, Paradise and outlying areas.

Bultema said like last year, the cost of living increases will again be unfunded, and that the state increased the cut in revenue limits from about 7 percent last year to 18.355 percent this year.

Bultema advised the districts that cash flow now has to be the major priority. He also said the state will continue deferring its payments.

Bultema said districts running into problems can do interfund borrowing or request to borrow from the county office on a case-by-case basis.

Bultema also indicated the Office of Education will be looking closer at interim budget reports, especially multi-year projections.

"We want to be a support," he told the audience. "We don’t want to be viewed as the bad guy … we’ll help you get back on track the best way we can."

Vickers called the governor’s recent budget proposal a "wolf in sheep’s clothing." She said that while education makes up about half the state budget, with the governor’s recent budget proposal, education would take about "a quarter" of the cuts.

Vickers also said the state proposes to cut an additional $225 per student in average daily attendance payments. The state reduced those last year with a one-time cut that districts expected back this year. But Vickers said that while the governor had planned to give the money back, the proposal reduces ADA funding again so that the districts will likely recover about $20 to $30 per student.

A change Vickers said will continue this year is flexibility allowed to districts in spending some previously restricted funds. She also said the governor proposes allowing flexibility in the deadline for notifying teachers of possible layoffs and rules governing how districts det ermine who will be laid off, but that change isn’t in writing yet.

In review, Bultema advised the districts to set their spending priorities, review cash flow and use one-time federal stimulus money effectively.