Frequently Asked Budget Questions and Answers
BURBANK UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
Frequently Asked Budget Questions and Answers
A personal note from Dr. Gregory Bowman, Superintendent:
What’s occurring in the economy is affecting all of us. These are difficult times especially for many families and businesses in our community. Burbank Schools feel the impact as well. As much as 90% of our district’s income comes from the State of California, which is facing an unprecedented financial deficit. This poses extraordinary challenges to maintaining the high quality of education we provide students.
As a result, the Board of Education must make critical decisions regarding the budget and spending priorities. Some of these decisions affect our teachers and other personnel. The Board will likely continue to face these issues for the foreseeable future, at least until the state’s economic condition improves.
During the past several weeks, I have spent a great deal of time talking with parents, staff and community members about what we are doing to “weather this economic storm.” Board members and I are aware of some rumors, mis-conceptions and inaccurate information circulating in the community. This brief overview contains your most frequently asked questions, along with concise, factual answers – the best we have at the moment. If you are interested in greater detail, you are welcome to contact my office at 818.729.4422.
Frequently Asked Questions – and Answers
What’s the estimated negative impact of the State budget deficit on Burbank Schools? It’s considerable. For 2008-09 (the current year), the actual shortfall in state funding for just the revenue limit (per-student funding for daily attendance) is $2.4 million. Next fiscal year (2009-10) we project reduced revenues of about $3.2 million. In 2010-11, assuming no large change in district attendance, the estimated shortfall is another $3.2 mil-lion. This alone will reduce revenues to the Burbank Schools more than $8.7 million. Add to this an anticipated $4 million shortfall for categorical programs and entitlements. All together, that’s a three-year reduction of revenues of over $12.8 million!
Why is Burbank planning to lay off teachers when neighboring districts are not? In fact, most districts in L.A. County have taken steps to lay off some teachers. Some districts laid off teachers last year. A few are not, including neighboring Glendale Unified. Instead, the Glendale Board has made sizable budget cuts in other areas. Burbank Schools’ already made significant reductions in administrative services in 2003-04.
The decision to lay off teachers depends largely on the amount of a district’s financial reserves and local spending priorities. Historically, Burbank Schools have maintained an adequate reserve fund to cover emergencies and “down” economic times. However, for the past three years, the sizable shortage of state funding has forced the district to spend some of these reserves. The good news is these “savings” have enabled the district to maintain pro-grams and teaching positions, at least up to this fiscal year.
Why is the District focusing on laying off K-3 teachers. Why aren’t other grades affected as much? Class sizes in K-3 are low – a maximum of 20 students. For the past several years, the state has provided added funds to hire more teachers at these grade levels to teach the smaller classes. However, these funds no longer are covering the actual cost. In grades 4-12, the student-teacher ratio averages 30.5 to 1, one of the lowest of all our neighboring districts. We believe that a moderate increase in class sizes in grades K-3 makes more sense academi-cally than increasing the ratio in grades 4-12. We plan to maintain an average class size of 30.5 in grades 4-12 where the majority of our students are.
Why is the District maintaining its reserves instead of spending it to retain teachers? State law requires school districts to maintain a minimum 3% reserve. Faced with so much uncertainty in state funding, the Board has set aside an additional 3% to help offset further state shortfalls. However, it’s unlikely that even this additional money in district “savings” will be enough to stave off further cuts.
Why can’t employees take a cut in their salaries and save some jobs? By state law, all matters related to compensation and benefits of teachers and classified employees must be negoti-ated between the district and employees associations. Salaries and related financial matters such as annual step and column adjustments must be agreed to in collective bargaining before any adjustments can are made. Such discus-sions have not taken place.
Why is the District spending money on athletic fields when they could use the money to pay teachers? A prior agreement between the City of Burbank and Burbank Schools mandates that funds placed jointly in a trust account can be used only for construction and renovation of the fields and stadium, which will benefit the entire Burbank community. These funds cannot be used for salaries for any employees or district operating expenses.
Can’t the District find the resources it needs by cutting administration and waste? The District already reduced administration to a minimum in 2003-04. For example, instructional services administrators at the District offices were cut from 8 to 3. This year, the District will make further cuts, such as the Out-Reach Center program, which includes one administrator and one clerical position; and the reduction of one ele-mentary assistant principal and one middle school assistant principal positions. All expenditures are subject to re-view by the Budget Committee.
How will the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Federal Stimulus Dollars) help our District? Will some of the money be used to bring back programs or teachers? As we understand the proposals, the majority of the funding from the federal government will be issued through Title I and Special Education programs. While Title I increases will help our Title I schools (six of our schools are Title I), legally we cannot reinstate teaching positions previously paid for out of non-federal funding. The amount of money we may receive which is unrestricted and may be used for any purpose the Board designates is yet unknown. The only other funding of which we are aware is for construction projects and technology. Until any figures are confirmed, the District cannot budget for the receipt of any federal funds.
Why is it necessary to lay off some of our youngest and brightest teachers? The California Education Code specifies a layoff process, which mandates a timeline, a hearing before an adminis-trative law judge, and other details. Simply stated, the main criterion is seniority, which for example means for a grades K-3 teacher, usually the most recently employed is the first to be subject to layoff. There are exceptions, such as when teachers have credentials to teach certain subjects. This affects mainly middle and high school teach-ers. Teachers in the District are Highly Qualified and have met the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements.
Why are classified employees not experiencing layoffs? Actually, they are. In the current fiscal year, 22 classified positions have been eliminated and 4.5 positions have been reduced. 92 classified positions have been affected either by elimination or reductions.
What about other sources of funding, like the Lottery, rentals, fees, etc? What else has been done? The state lottery provides less than 2% of District funding. This year’s estimates were originally $121 per student, but the actual is closer to $109. Other sources of revenue have been reviewed and adjusted where possible, includ-ing rentals, fees charged for use of facilities, interest income, and transfers using flexibility of restricted revenue into non-restricted programs. Further, expenditures from all funds were frozen with the exception of critically necessary items. This freeze allowed the District to preserve money in the current year to help offset the cuts to state funding.
How can the District increase revenue, such as a parcel tax? It is possible to place a parcel tax initiative on the local ballot. This process from initiation to election and, if suc-cessful, the initial collection of funds takes about 18 months to two years to complete.
With budget cuts, what are the specific school programs that will no longer be in place next year? Burbank has taken a position to maintain important school programs – for example, elementary music and elemen-tary P.E. Few programs will be eliminated, although some will be cut back because of reduced categorical funding from the State. The 9th grade class size reduction program will be eliminated. Furthermore, the District may seek a waiver from the State to defer purchasing English Language Arts textbooks for one year. It is anticipated that par-ents and students will see only minimal reductions in Burbank’s instructional programs in the classroom next fiscal year, despite all of the financial challenges we are facing.
