School chiefs wait in limbo until election

Dwindling poll projections for the state's special election May 19 worry local school authorities who have already reduced staff and made spending cuts predicated on the budget band-aids offered by school-related ballot propositions.

If the propositions do not pass, school officials predict that the worst is yet to come.

Superintendents from Anderson Union High School, Cascade Union Elementary School and Cottonwood Union Elementary School Districts say they've already been cutting corners, and if Propositions 1A through 1E don't pass, not one school official is willing to guess what the California Legislature might do to further whittle down education allotments for the 2009-2010 school year.

"(The Legislature) passed a budget based on an election that hadn't taken place yet," explained Tim Azevedo, superintendent of the Anderson high school district.

If Propositions 1A through 1E do win voter approval, schools will continue to operate at spending levels allotted in February, "which was still a reduced budget," Azevedo commented.

"If it fails, that puts us in another bad spot," he said.

Proposition 1A extends a handful of one-time taxes and fees for the next few years. For example, a sales tax increase of 1 percent, approved in February, would be extended; a vehicle license fee increase ranging from .065 to 1.15 percent would not expire until 2013 and an income tax increase spread across all brackets of one quarter of one percent would continue through 2012.

If 1A passes, 1B would use an allotment of the tax dollars raised by 1A to provide a minimum level of education funding as outlined by Proposition 98, which voters passed in 1988.

"If 1A through 1E don't go through, we are looking at another $6 billion overall deficit," Cascade Elementary superintendent Wes Smith said.

"That's huge, and the governor has already said we are going to take a major portion of that from public education," Smith said.

"In real numbers, it means about $3.6 billion reductions to Prop. 98 - the guarantee for minimum funding for education. Not only are they not going to give us what they guaranteed, they are going to reduce it by $3.6 billion more," he said.

The unresolved poll numbers are delaying the abilities of local school officials to finalize spending plans for the upcoming year.

Meanwhile, cash-strapped districts are looking at ways to save additional money including everything from laying off of more teachers and eliminating programs designed to reduce class size class size reduction to becoming more efficient on their utility expenditures.

Cascade superintendent Smith said he and his colleagues are also exploring ways for South County school districts to share resources.

The Cascade, Anderson and Cottonwood school districts have all issued layoff notices and it is too soon to know how many of those layoffs will eventually be rescinded, if any.

"We gave out 12 notices," Smith said, noting that his district has already started bringing some people back - "which is good news for the community because part of our economy turning around is predicated upon getting people back to work," he said. "We're anxious to help in that regard, but we have to be careful because of this May 19 election."

AUHS district superintendent Azevedo said his district intended to lay off 11 teachers, but about six of those vacancies will be absorbed by retirees who will not be replaced.

"There will be some classified folks being laid off as well," Azevedo said.

Cottonwood superintendent Bob Lowden reported 10 layoffs of certificated staff in his district. One of those teachers is expected to return.

It's unknown if any other layoffs will be rescinded, Lowden said.

Federal stimulus dollars may help school districts replace some of their missing funds, but with the state budget still up in the air, it's too early to tell what shape California school districts will be in for the 2009-2010 school year, the superintendents said.

"It looks like we may be receiving some money from the federal government that will really help us," Lowden said.

"But then you move back to the state situation. If the ballot measures don't pass, then the state has to go back to the table, and I don't know what that is going to mean," he said. "It's making it very difficult for us to finalize things."