Special meeting slated Saturday over possible impacts as state
acts to cut deficit
School Board trustees will give up their Saturday morning this weekend to pore over budget figures and goals, in light of cuts in state funding.
“It’s in a state of tremendous flux,” Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Branco said Monday. “There’s an $8 billion gap in what the legislative analysts office predicts – $26 billion – and what the governor’s office predicts – $34.6 billion … It could be that we don’t have to make the mid-year cuts we were afraid we were going to have to make.”
Gov. Gray Davis has proposed a $5.2 billion budget cut in education funding to take a sizable bite out the $34.6 billion state budget deficit.
New Trustees Mike Hickey, Amina Khemici and Shellé Thomas requested a workshop on budgetary issues earlier this year, when faced with the issue of choosing a construction management firm for the new Sobrato High school.
Questions were raised about the ability of the district to pay for the new school; but the trustees also expressed a concern about the operating budget and preparing for the round of cuts which seem inevitable in light of the state budget.
Thomas also wanted to include board goals in the workshop because, she said, the two are tied together. Board President Tom Kinoshita agreed.
Branco said the uncertainty over the exact amount of state cuts makes planning at the individual district level tricky.
“It (the proposed state budget) changes about every two to three days,” she said. “We will be adopting our budget (in June) before the state adopts theirs in September.”
The district uses a performanced-based budget committee to trim the operating budget, which includes funds not mandated by the state to be spent on specific programs. Last year, the committee shaved $2.6 million from the budget, including $1.3 million in staffing.
The meeting will be 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 1, at the district office, 15600 Concord Circle. Details: 201-6000.
