Budget still bleak for LVUSD

By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

A second interim budget report named "Dances with Wolves It Isn’t, Chapter II" highlighted the precarious financial status of Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD) due to state budget problems and other issues.

LVUSD Deputy Superintendent Donald Zimring presented his findings at a recent school board meeting, armed with information that nailed down a firm financial outlook that’s harsh, but could have been worse.

Had two ballot items failed, Prop. 57 (Gov. Arnold Schwarz-enegger’s $15 billion bond to rescue the ailing state budget deficit) and Measure E (LVUSD’s $98-per-year parcel tax that will generate about $1.8 million per year for four years), severe cuts to core programs would have been necessary.

But the situation has "worsened a bit," Zimring said, since mid-

December, when the first interim report was presented. Average daily attendance dipped (causing a loss of nearly $84,000) and workers’ compensation costs rose by $250,000. Unanticipated special education legal costs hit $150,000. The district budget was short by $467,620.

Zimring added that deficit spending for the current school year is at an unprecedented $2.8 million, bringing the reserve level to its lowest point––1.68 percent. Ordinarily, the state requires school districts to maintain a 3 percent reserve, but since the state slashed funds to schools (about $3 million to LVUSD), the reserve requirement has been temporarily waived.

Multi-year projections through 2008 were made, but the uncertainty of California’s financial health could affect the predictions. Zimring assumed that there would be no cuts for the remainder of the school year, but he explained that next year additional cuts or revenue enhancements of $1-$1.2 million would be necessary. If Measure E hadn’t passed, Zimring said, the cuts would have been $3 million.

Zimring projected no further cuts for the 2005/2006 school year. Uncertainties that could influence the numbers include contract negotiations with classified employees, the Supplemental Early Retirement Program (SERP) currently being offered to veteran teachers, and other factors. Zimring said it didn’t seem likely that a minimum of the necessary 40 teachers would participate in the SERP.

Special education costs total $17 million of the overall operating budget, Zimring said. He noted that the district’s special education costs are among the highest in the state.

Prop. 98, a constitutional amendment passed in 1988 to maintain minimum education funding, is still in jeopardy. "It will probably happen," Zimring said. The outcome will be that schools wouldn’t recover monies previously owed to them by the state and would lose future guarantees.

An unknown that may positively affect future budgets is the amount of money that’s being collected through the district’s home schooling program.

While Zimring assured the board that the budget has been whittled down to a more manageable, less disastrous, amount, he added that the situation "is about as precarious as you can get." The bottom line: LVUSD still needs about $1.2 million over the next two years.