School District Looks at $1.4 Million in Budget Cuts; Won't Further Increase Class Sizes

The board last night considered a number of pleas to restore certain in anticipation of severe budget shortfalls, and decided not to consider further increasing class sizes in an effort to save money. The rest of the budget decisions, which include at least $500,000 in cuts from the 2011-12 school year and $1.4 million over the next three years, will be considered tonight at the board’s meeting at 7 p.m. at the district office. 

In January, the district .

“That worst case scenario is now off the table,” said Chief Business Manager Kathleen Clow at the board’s meeting last night. “It’s much better than we expected, but don’t go spending.”

The school district board has two main financial problems it is attempting to grapple with.

A structural budget deficit left the district with a rapidly depleting reserve last year and a directive from the County Office of Education to address that situation. The board voted to make cuts of $500,000 this year, $500,000 next year, and $400,000 the following year in an effort to bring it’s budget into balance and create a long-term sustainable situation.

In addition to those structural deficits, the district is reeling from state cuts that could leave it forced to cut close to $2 million more in the next three years.

But, said Clow, Governor Jerry Brown presented a revised state budget just last week that saw $2.2 billion more in revenue coming into the state. Brown said that with that increase in revenue, tax increases wouldn’t be as high as previously proposed and school district would see more money.

“Whether, and how much, this increase in revenue might benefit schools is still to be determined,” said RVSD Board President Chris Carlucci. If the proposed tax increases don’t pass in November, then the district will still see additional budget cuts that it must plan for now without yet knowing what’s down the road.

However, the board last night was tentatively optimistic that the worst case scenarios were no longer a major threat.

Clow warned them, though, that state recommendations were not to restore cuts or layoffs yet and to wait until November to see if the tax measures pass. 

The board held a preliminary budget workshop on Feb. 17 and approved a possible $569,800 in cuts, which included increasing third-grade class sizes from 20 students to between 20 and 25, increasing sixth-grade through eighth-grade class sizes to 29 students, reducing library services by 20 percent, reducing Kindergarten aide time by 50 percent, reducing Special Education aides by 25 percent, and reducing overall supplies budget district-wide by 5 percent. There was also a proposal to eliminate three instructional days during the Thanksgiving week. If the reduced number of days were adopted, then the sixth- through eighth-grade class sizes would be restored at 22 to 25 students.

At last night’s meeting, staff presented numbers to show how much money could be saved if class sizes were further increased.

Because the district gets some money for class size reduction from the state, but not enough to cover the actual cost, and is penalized for class sizes that go over a certain number, there is a balance between how much money is gained versus saved. If classes were increased to 30 kids, the district would have a net savings of $449,000 over the current proposal that was preliminary adopted on Feb. 17.

But, that was an increase the board said it was not willing to accept in the long-term. And the packed room of parents and teachers was glad to hear it, interrupting with loud applause.

“The community told us loud and clear that class size is not something they want us to touch,” said Board Trustee Annelise Bauer.

“If we have to do that, because we do have more cuts in the future, it doesn’t mean we have to do it for this year,” said Trustee Sharon Sagar, who urged that the board take the time to have a conversation with the community before drastically increasing class sizes. 

The board all agreed that, other than some class size increases and program moves that will have to take place at and just for one year as , they would not consider drastically increasing class sizes right now.

But, they all also said, that some difficult decisions are coming down the pipeline.

Three other presentations last night asked the board to restore certain cuts that were proposed in February. 

Toni Beal, Director of Student Services, presented a proposal to transition to a more flexible special education model at , where some students will be able to receive aide support in their general education classrooms, some students will have targeted support and remediation in a learning lab, and some students will have full classes taught to them individually in the learning center. 

However, the proposal asks that the district restore the 25 percent cuts in Special Education aides that was proposed in February.

White Hill Principal David Finanne also reminded the board that the personnel decisions are becoming pressing, because a number of staff that are uncertain of their positions in the fall are looking for other jobs.

Finnane also made two other presentations about foreign language and math classes at White Hill.

Enough students applied to take Spanish and French that French will continued to be offered and that another section of Spanish should be added, at an approximate cost of $17,000 for 0.2 of a teacher position. 

The Math Department also made cuts following the February preliminary budget cuts. Finnane told the board that under the current cuts there would be seven sections of algebra with just over 31 students in each section and that one of those classes would also have the ten geometry students embedded in the class and the teacher would be asked to rotate between the algebra and geometry groups. 

Following preliminary placement tests and discussions with Drake about math progress, Finnane said that if 0.2 of a teacher position could also be restored in math (at an approximate cost of $17,000) that would allow eight sections of algebra with 29 students on average and smaller classes of the lower-level math P1-P2, which does algebra at a slower pace.

“We’re being asked to reinstate a lot of things,” said Sagar, who noted that although the budget situation is slightly improved with the Governor’s May announcement, the district is still in a serious financial condition.

“How are we going to merge our reality with our desires and our preferences?” asked Trustee Heidi Weller.

The board will continue the budget discussion tonight at 7 p.m. at the district office on Shaw Drive.