The Redondo Beach School District is gearing up for a worst-case scenario for next year’s budget, one that could result in a $3.77 million trigger cut if the state and the school district’s proposed tax initiatives do not pass during the November election.
“Future years become more and more difficult as the states budget woes continue and therefore trickle down to the little people like the RBUSD,” said Superintendent Steven Keller. “We always plan for the worst and hope for the best.”
Following years of state-wide cuts and funding reductions, RBUSD’s reserve fund, which is required by the state to be at a minimum of three percent, has been diminishing each year and is now hugging the border at 3.1 percent.
“The reality is that we can’t go below three percent so we have to find ways to balance a budget that is becoming less and less funded,” Keller said.
The Governor’s proposed tax increase would raise the state’s sales tax by .5 cents for four years and allocate 89 percent of the revenues to K-12 schools and 11 percent to community colleges. It would also increase income tax on annual earnings over $250,000 for five years. Another proposed state initiative, Molly Munger’s California State Income Tax Increase to Support Public Education Initiative, will be likewise be on the November ballot, and if passed would increase public education funding by $10 billion a year by increasing income tax for 12 years.
The district has also been discussing adding a possible $68 million in school improvement bonds and a parcel tax to the ballot that would go towards improving school facilities with solar energy and adding more technology in the classroom.
Jon Isom from Isom Advisors was hired by the school district to determine the feasibility of bond and parcel tax and surveyed 400 individual voters in the Redondo Beach area. The survey estimated 52.8 percent of prospective voters would support the bond measure – slightly below the required 55 percent threshold for approval – with an additional 6.3 percent potentially leaning yes and a firm 29.3 percent voting no.
Isom’s survey found 52 percent approval for parcel tax, well below the 66.7 approval threshold. The district will therefore probably not pursue adding a parcel tax proposal to the ballot. .
“The bottom line and the end of the story is that we are just looking for money because the state is clobbering us, that’s all there is to it,” said Keller. “We’re trying to turn over every rock possible. We’re looking through the cushions and the couch trying to find anything we can [to balance the budget.]”
For RBUSD, the worst-case scenario would result in fewer teachers, classified employees and administrators. It could also open discussions about possible furlough days and increased class sizes.
For now, 47 temporary teaching contracts have not been renewed and the district’s $64 million budget is still $2 million short.
“The bottom line for us is that if these [ballot measures] don’t pass in November we have pretty significant trigger cuts,” said Keller. “It will be a very unfortunate time after November for public education given the state’s [financial] woes.
