County education officials have suspended a study into consolidating the Old Adobe and Petaluma school districts after Old Adobe improved its financial standing by converting two of its four elementary schools into charters.
A charter conversion for a third campus is under way.
The move to charter schools pushes the 1,700-student Old Adobe District east of Petaluma into a basic aid funding formula, meaning local property tax revenues exceed what the state is paying in per-pupil funding, so the district gets to keep more money.
Petaluma City Schools' funding will remain based on the state's revenue-limit calculation.
Had Old Adobe merged with Petaluma, its funding formula would have reverted to the lower level so it pulled out of the study, said Steve Herrington, superintendent of the Sonoma County Office of Education, which headed up the process.
"I think the electorate would like to know what the results would have revealed but I don't think anybody wants to jeopardize the financial stability of the district," he said.
The county office spent "maybe $5,000" on the study before it was suspended last week, Herrington said.
"It wasn't bad money spent because we can always pick it up at a point in time, but I'm glad we weren't too far down the road," he said.
Old Adobe school board member Russ Wigglesworth said he was compelled to back the study last spring to answer persistent questions about the viability of smaller districts such as his.
"My whole position on the consolidation thing was that everybody was speculating as to what it would look like but nobody had evidence and nobody had facts," he said. "I just wanted to put it out there and say &‘What would it look like?' That was all. I wasn't pro or against, necessarily."
The study was being viewed as a potential benchmark in Sonoma County where 40 schools districts serve 71,000 kindergarten through 12th-graders - one of the largest district-to-student ratios in the state.
For Old Adobe, the move to charter schools and basic aid was good business, resulting in a more predictable funding source and a way to create unique curriculum options, said Superintendent Cindy Pilar.
"What are the best ways we can draw additional funding that would not put our district in any financial risk but also might deepen the programs that we are offering?" she said.
Miwok Valley School will focus on languages beginning in 2012-13 and Old Adobe School will be an arts charter, she said.
Basic aid also provides a more stable funding schedule, she said. "We never know year to year, and we know very late in the year, what our financial picture is going to look like," she said of the district's current funding situation.
Waugh, a district of 930-students located in the middle of Petaluma and Old Adobe districts, never signed onto the consolidation study despite overtures to join last
year.
By converting at least two campuses to charter schools, Old Adobe can count those students under a different category than students at their traditional campuses. Under that formula, Old Adobe's enrollment reaches a level for which basic aid kicks in.
The scenario likely would not have played out had districts not suffered deep cuts from Sacramento. Districts are eligible for basic aid funds if their property tax revenues exceed what the state pay per pupil - when Old Adobe suffered reduced funds, basic aid became an option if they moved to charter campuses.
"We have become so desperate," Herrington said. "Every district has become entrepreneurial."
Trustee Wigglesworth expressed frustration about how state funds are doled out, saying the district had few alternatives other than converting its schools to charters to secure funding.
"It's a game," he said. "To be perfectly blunt, I feel like I've sold out to the chartering, but that is the game that is being played."
Staff Writer Kerry Benefield writes an education blog at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. She can be reached at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.
UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy: