ESUSD on target with budget … for now
Gov. Jerry Brown (Photo: upi.com)
According to Mono County Office of Education Chief Business Official, Caty Keller, the Eastern Sierra Unified School District is “right on target, right now” with its second interim budget report that the Board will review at its regular meeting tonight, March 16 at 6 p.m. in Lee Vining.
The second interim budget report is based on budget knowledge through Jan. 31 of each school year and helps form assumptions going forward for the rest of the year. However, when it comes to budgeting in education, nothing is ever certain, which is why Keller put the “right now” caveat on her statement.
The California Legislature is expected to vote on Governor Jerry Brown’s budget plan sometime today. Brown has proposed a June special election where voters could choose whether or not to “balance $12.5 billion in spending cuts with a five-year extension of temporary increases in the sales, personal income and vehicle taxes first enacted two years ago,” said www.realclearpolitics.com.
Republicans have been in opposition thus far of the special election. A vote today is expected to determine whether or not the election moves forward. If it does not, cuts to education are imminent.
“We don’t know what the cuts will be, but there will be some,” Keller said. She added that because the District has no idea where the cuts would be made, she could not say how they would be absorbed and whether or not they would seriously cripple ESUSD again this year.
The Board is expected to receive the report this evening. It will also hold a Special Meeting immediately following its regular meeting to determine whether or not to sign an agreement with the Office of Administrative Hearings to provide Administrative Law Judge services. The discussion is in response to certificated employees’ requests for hearings regarding the reduction or elimination of certain certificated services for the 2011-2012 school year. At its February meeting the Board approved a resolution that sent pink slips to all certificated staff in the district in order to allow flexibility if budget cuts become necessary.
