Facing a multi-million dollar deficit, the school board will be asked tonight to approve the first in a series of budget cuts.
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board has to fill a $2 million budget shortfall. Earlier this year the school district was facing a $4.5 million deficit, but found $2 million through state funding and internal sources. The school board will be asked to approve another $1.65 million in reductions.
“We have balances to cover the first $2 million but we don’t have funds to cover the remaining $2.5 million,” said Ken Bailey, the district’s finance director.
“So we need to make the first tier cuts... as a minimal step, and then the additional cuts will be predicated on whether we get (the increase in funding) we are expecting or if we receive some additional support from the city,” he added.
The school board has been asked to reduce funding for staff by $478,377, which is money dedicated for teaching stipends, clerical positions and a summer custodial position.
The school district also is proposing a $500,135 cut in non-staff spending, which ranges from cell phones and travel expenses to new text books and mileage reimbursements.
District officials believe another $665,630 can be saved by carrying over medical insurance costs, rolling over state lottery funds into next year and reducing capital equipment costs by 10 percent.
“We’ve been talking about this for a while now,” Bailey said. “I’m not expecting the board will hear anything new that they haven’t heard in previous discussions.”
“We’ve been talking about this for a while now. I’m not expecting the board will hear anything new that they haven’t heard in previous discussions.” — — KEN BAILEY SMMUSD Finance Director
The school district also has prepared a second list of possible budget cuts totaling $2.6 million.
The second round of cuts will allow school board members to pick and choose, officials said. Those reductions could be used as reserves if the district does not get the extra funding from the cities of Santa Monica, Malibu and the state.
The school board will meet tonight at 7 p.m. in the HRL Laboratories auditorium, located at 3011 Malibu Canyon Road in Malibu.
During the next two budget years, the school district is facing more than a $5 million deficit, resulting mostly from drastic cuts in state funding and dramatic increases in expenses.
Superintendent John Deasy has called for a 250 percent increase in parcel taxes over the next three years, which will go before voters in Santa Monica and Malibu this November. However, the parcel tax increase would not go into effect for a year.
Deasy has asked the board to request $2.25 million more in donations from Santa Monica and Malibu — the two cities that comprise the school district. The city of Santa Monica currently gives $3 million to the school district and Malibu gives $200,000 in subsidies.
The school district has appointed an ad-hoc parcel tax committee to study whether the increased tax is warranted, how much the increase should be and to write how the question will appear on the ballot.
The committee will outline its goals and set a timeline under which the school board must work to get the parcel tax question on the November ballot.
The full report is expected to be prepared for the school board’s June 17 meeting and the ballot question would likely be approved on June 27. SM school district begins budget hearings tonight
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 6, 2002. Read the original PDF.