Santa Rosa schools tackle budget cuts

<p>The Santa Rosa School board moved forward Wednesday with millions of dollars in proposed cuts that will increase class sizes, eliminate library improvements, limit classroom supplies, and impact dozens of other programs.</p><p>The district also will examine administrative spending in the district office in search of money.</p><p>Hundreds of people packed council chambers at Santa Rosa City Hall on Wednesday, standing three-deep as they listened to the district try to prioritize $10 million in budget cuts over the next two years.</p><p>The board isn’t expected to give final approval to the plan for weeks and will hold a public hearing before taking final action on $3.4 million in cuts or revenue loss this year and another $5 million next year. The district faces an additional $1.6million in loses to specific programs funded by the state.</p><p>With the millions in funding the state eliminated, it has also given districts unprecedented flexibility in how local officials choose to spend the money they do get. That freedom has allowed the board to consider a budget that can pull money from previously protected programs into the general fund.</p><p>But those program dollars serve students, said Elsie Allen High School science teacher Brian Deller.</p><p>Elsie Allen uses that money to pay for guest speakers, lab supplies and field trips that keep students engaged, Deller said.</p><p>“Believe it or not, kids don’t come into my class and say ‘Hey Deller, do you have a worksheet for us today?” he said. “They want to know, is there a lab? Is there something neat?”</p><p>If the district approves increasing kindergarten through third grade class sizes from a 20-to-1 ratio to 22-to-1, 10 full-time teaching positions will be cut, saving the district approximately $600,000 annually. If freshman math and English courses are staffed 24-to-1 instead of 20-to-1, the district will shed three full-time positions and save about $180,000 a year.</p><p>“There is nothing here I really want to do, but the board has to embrace something to balance our budget,” said board member Frank Pugh. “The situation the district finds itself in is the fault of no one in this room.”</p><p>“It was very moving to see people and actually hear their stories,” said board member Laura Gonzalez. “(But) like director Pugh, I’m not optimistic about the future.”</p><p>At the urging of the Santa Rosa teachers union, board members directed staff to examine the budget of the district office.</p><p>“I think the bleeding needs to go all the way around,” said board member Larry Haenel in directing staff to examine its internal costs.</p><p>Among the other items on the table: shifting more than $500,000 earmarked for maintenance to nonspecific general fund purposes, early retirement incentives to save $390,000, cutting funding for school resource officers by $100,000, and diverting to the general fund more than $2 million previously specified for school and library improvements and arts and music grants.</p><p>The district also plans to draw $2.5 million from its $11million general fund reserve account and issued layoff notices to two administrators Wednesday. Those notices can be rescinded before May 15.</p><p>The district is expected to give the plan final approval in the coming weeks but will hold a public hearing prior to the final vote. The board said a final decision will not be made at next Wednesday’s regular meeting.</p><p>(You can reach Staff Writer Kerry Benefield at 521-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.)</p>