RSS Feed
|
The Acorn - Thousand Oaks Acorn Moorpark Acorn - Camarillo Acorn |
|
|||||
|
School board approves $157-million budget
According to the district's 200708 general fund budget, total expenditures are expected to outweigh total revenue by about $818,160- this after the district finished 200607 with a $10million surplus. "We try to keep that at a minimum," Schultze said of this year's budget deficit. "Sometimes that does happen." On Tuesday, the Simi Valley school board approved minor changes to the 2007-08 budget made during a 45-day revision period allowable by law. The action gave the public an opportunity to see how SVUSD will be spending its money this year. Districtwide expenditures are expected to be up $6.7 million this year, Schultze said, primarily because of the need for new books and supplies. An increase in capital outlay, or onetime purchases on a variety of equipment, is also a factor, with costs expected to increase 104 percent over last year, from $639,778 to around $1.3 million. On the other side of the coin, projected figures for total revenue are down about $4.2 million. Total revenue, which includes unrestricted and restricted funds, is down in large part because there are fewer students in the classrooms. According to figures released during Tuesday's meeting, there were 283 fewer students in the first month of school this year than in September 2006. "Declining enrollment is the biggest issue. It is a concern, and we're watching it constantly," Schultze said. "Most districts in California are declining. Close to 60 percent are declining. We have to watch projections closely." But students in Simi Valley are, on average, attending classes at a higher rate than the rest of California. Simi Unified's actual daily attendance (ADA) is just over 96 percent. The statewide ADA average is 94 percent. That figure is important because for each day a student misses, excused or unexcused, the district loses about $30 to 35 a day per student. But even with fewer students, Simi Unified remains in good financial standing, Schultze said, noting that all staff received a 5.5 percent raise last year. During Tuesday's meeting, Don Gaudioso, the assistant superintendent of personnel services, announced that the district had reached a tentative agreement with the Simi Educators Association (SEA) for revisions of a three-year contract that runs to the 2008-09 school year. Under the tentative agreement, Gaudioso said, teachers will get another 4 percent spike in salary, among other changes. Members of the SEA bargaining team attended the meeting to show their support for the agreement. The contract will be presented to the board for a vote of approval during a special meeting on Oct. 16. Though a tighter budget will require wiser spending, no cuts are expected to be made this year, and the classroom would be the last place to be hit by any cuts, Schultze said. During the budget crisis in 2004, Simi Unified was forced to cut night custodians and other clerical workers in the district office. The district has been able to bring back some of those positions. Schultze will form a budget workshop committee in January and February with school-site managers, union representatives and district staff. The committee will discuss the criteria for putting the budget together, focusing on anything from enrollment figures to expenditures to whether the utility bills have gone up in the winter. The committee will also have to consider any new programs. Bill Waxman, the director of secondary education, and Deborah Riley, the director of primary education, help come up with the educational programs. Schultze will present the final budget to the school board at the end of June. "We're always trying to make sure that the funding is there for the children," Dickerson said. "That's the main thing." |
for larger version       |
||||
)