Budget time

The Hermosa Beach City School District faces a serious budget battle this year. Education funding cuts from Sacramento have bitten deeply into the money Hermosa Beach will receive to run its schools. So deeply, in fact, that beyond trying to save cherished programs or teachers, there is some thought that if the economic situation in the State doesn’t improve, Hermosa Beach might not be able to sustain a school district in the future. The Board does seem committed to maintaining the District and outlining a long-range plan to prepare for certain contingencies, but right now, they face an uphill battle with the next school year.

Under current state funding levels, at this writing, the District's projected budget for 2010/2011 is $9.06 million dollars. Current revenues - the money that the District expects to receive from all sources excluding money raised by parents - are projected to be $8.4 million. That means, as of this writing, Hermosa Beach Schools face a $600,000.00 budget shortfall to provide a basic education. That does not include programs like music, art, middle-school electives, foreign language and class size reduction. That also means 30 children per classroom in all grades. The Board currently has a June 24 public meeting set to consider further cuts to balance the budget.

School staff puts together the budget with guidance and finally approval of school Board. The revenue numbers used in building the budget are based on guidance from Sacramento given earlier this year, but the process is complicated by the fact the numbers are only a prediction of what revenues will be once the State’s budget is passed. The process by which the State sets and distributes school funding is extremely complicated. For Hermosa Beach, a fully funded budget would require state funding in the amount of $6,384.00 per student based on average daily attendance (ADA). But, Sacramento has cut that and, in fact, is reclaiming money it feels was overpaid last year in the amount $250 per student. They are also including a negative COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment). As of this writing the best guess is that the State will provide $4932.00 per student which totals $5.9 million for Hermosa’s 1200 students (based on ADA – there are actually slightly mores students). Other revenue sources, which include some federal money, lottery money, state special education money (which doesn’t come close to covering the District’s special ed costs on state mandated programs) and local sources such as the rent on North School and the extended day program at South Park, bring the total up to about $8.4 million.

Why that per-student number is a “best guess” is because no school district in California will know exactly how much money it will get from the State until the State Budget is settled. When that will happen is anybody’s guess. But the District is still required to submit a budget to the County Board Of Education for approval by June 30. It’s a little like going shopping and waiting until you’re at the check-out before you find out how much you have in your wallet. Also, looming like storm clouds on the horizon, there is talk in Sacramento of suspending Proposition 98, the law that sets a percentage of the State’s budget for education.

In prior years parent fundraising has been used to save programs like art, music, P.E. and foreign languages. As of now the Board wants to continue that tradition. Using parent money to simply balance the budget could cause serious problems for future fundraising as well as for fundraising this year. But it’s important to understand the Board faces a very tough challenge. It seems unlikely in the current situation that all the programs parents have donated for can be saved under these budget conditions. There is fear that parents will pull back donations given to support certain programs if there is no chance of those programs being reinstated. That fear is realistic but we are in a crisis. The schools our kids attend next year will, without question, look very different from the schools they are attending now. Pulling back donations in this climate might be personally satisfying but would not help our children or our town.

As of right now, the Board has only considered Certificated (teacher) salary cuts because the District was required to issue pink slips by March 15. At the June 24 budget session, which is open to the public, they will consider cuts in Classified (administrative and support staff) salaries and other basic and support costs in an attempt to meet the shortfall before using parent contributions to reinstate electives and other programs. The District does have a reserve fund of $1.3 million but that money is often needed to aid cash flow due to the state practice of distributing funds long after the District is required to spend them. Also, as has been done in past years, the State can issue further budget cuts well into next year. That would mean less money from Sacramento and further cuts to the school's budget – after the school year is in session. A bad situation could get worse. That possibility demands any prudent budget maintain a reserve.

Fundraising efforts continue and it is critical that every parent who can contribute do so, but this is a tough year for a lot of people. Given the District’s importance to the community at large it seems that fundraising efforts could be expanded beyond the parent base. That will, of course, take time and sweat and more parents will have to step up to volunteer.

Our school district is small and many of us believe that is one of its great strengths. But in this struggle it may prove to be its greatest weakness. Ultimately there may not be a solution at the local level, at which time the school board would have to consider merging the district with a neighboring city. None of us want that and we must not give up on one of the finest school districts in California without a serious fight. It may be tempting to take that fight straight to the School Board or the staff, but it is important to remember that this is not only a local problem. The bulk of our school funding comes directly from the State and is decided upon by the Legislature and Governor. School districts statewide are facing these same concerns. Some will survive, some may not. The situation amounts to a catastrophic failure of government with our children as victims.