Santa Rosa school board considering multimillion-dollar budget cut proposal

Santa Rosa school officials are crafting a three-year plan to erase a $13 million budget deficit that includes reducing services and slashing jobs and unfilled positions, a tactic used more often in recent years as the district continues to grapple with declining enrollment and rising pension costs.

At least 17 full-time positions will be trimmed in a proposal going in front of the Santa Rosa City Schools Board of Education for a vote Wednesday night to help the district balance its $185 million general fund budget through 2021-22. Last year, 50 positions were eliminated to help cut costs.

The district would potentially have to surrender local control over its budget to the state, if it fails to adopt a plan by May that outlines how it will achieve financial solvency, Santa Rosa Deputy Superintendent Rick Edson said.

He is “cautiously optimistic” Sonoma County’s largest school district can finalize a plan to get that done, he said.

About $3 million of the proposed $11.6 million of belt-tightening measures laid out in the school district’s so-called fiscal stabilization plan are rollbacks to various specialized positions. Another $3.5 million of savings was derived from reducing software replacement costs or furniture expenses. Eventually, the board still will have to figure out ways to cut $1.4 million more in order to close the $13 million deficit.

The bulk of the 17 jobs targeted for elimination are vacant positions, including part-time assignments for teachers and administrators outside the classroom that together accounted for nearly $2 million in savings.

However, two full-time staff members would be displaced from a counseling program, Supporting Our Language Learners, that helps students under the English learner designation advance into regular classes and ultimately graduate, district spokeswoman Beth Berk said.

English learners make up a quarter of Santa Rosa’s student population, and more than 40% of elementary school students alone.

The two counselors work with about 1,200 students at 11 schools, Berk said.

Established in 2016, the entire counseling program, which was allocated five positions, would be scrapped under the proposal the school board will consider Wednesday. Berk said the two counseling employees could be moved to another role.

District officials have not yet detailed the rationale for discontinuing the language counseling program.

Edson said the staff trimming and plans to eliminate certain unfilled positions was based on “demonstrated needs and the direction of the district at this point.”

Enrollment at Santa Rosa’s public schools is projected to reach 14,079 students by the 2020-21 school year, a more than 9% decrease from 2015, heavily affecting state funding, the deputy superintendent said.

An audit last year by San Jose accounting firm Chavan and Associates showed Santa Rosa faces an uncertain future that “requires management to plan carefully and prudently to provide the necessary resources to meet the student’s needs and continue to keep pace with inflation increases over the next several years.”

Edson said this period of austerity likely would continue with staff and teachers both returning to the bargaining table later this year.

An agreement reached with teachers in 2019 to provide a 7% raise over two years added another $14.4 million to the school district’s general fund’s expenses.

Tightening education budgets is stressing public school districts statewide, forcing financial assessments like what the Santa Rosa district is undertaking.

“It’s not a Santa Rosa or a Sonoma County problem,” Edson said. “It’s a California state problem.”

You can reach Staff Writer Yousef Baig at 707-521-5390 or yousef.baig@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @YousefBaig.