District Unveils Revised Budget

By Ann K. Williams
Staff Writer

June 21 -- Comparing it to a Polaroid photo that is “going to become crisp,” School District officials last week unveiled a revised $107 million budget for fiscal year 2005-06 that will meet the State's June deadline.

A 100 percent accurate, computer-refined version of the budget -- which reserves $94 million for employee salaries and benefits -- will be presented to the School Board Friday for final approval and adoption, district officials said.

"As you shake it, it's going to become crisp," Winston A. Braham, assistant superintendent for Fiscal and Business Services told the board last Thursday, adding that the budget is becoming more precise with every revision.

The $107,808,524 the District plans to spend under the latest 2005-06 Proposed General Fund Budget would pay for the following:

• $53 million for “certificated” salaries for teachers and other credentialed staff
  
• $19 million for salaries for classified staff
  
• $22 million for employee benefits
  
• $9.7 million for "services/other operating" expenses, which includes utilities and funds for non-public schools and agencies that provide special education services
  
• $3.6 million for books and supplies

But while school officials are busy crunching numbers, it is not yet clear exactly how much
State funding they can expect to receive.

"We're doing well" compared to other districts in the state, said Superintendent Dr. John E. Deasy.

The budget is balanced and the District will be able to fund all its programs, meet all its reserves and maintain student achievement for another year, Deasy added.

According to the proposed budget, the District expects to take in $106,575,502, most of it from the following sources:

• $81 million from the State, most of which will be calculated based on the average daily attendance (ADA) at Santa Monica's schools
  
• $10 million from "local revenue," which includes more than $6 million from the City of Santa Monica guaranteed under an agreement resulting from an aggressive lobbying effort by the Community for Excellent Public Schools.
  
• $10 million from parcel taxes approved by voters
  
• $4.5 million from the Federal government

As usual, the California budget -- on which the District budget depends -- is far from being adopted, and education funding promises to be a subject of hot debate in Sacramento this summer.

While Democrats in the State Legislature have said they would take education funding off the table for now, hanging over the budget deliberations is the special November election recently called by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"The special election is the most significant issue in school funding in the past thirty years," Deasy said a few days after the meeting. "I can't even speculate what November will bring."

The big initiative on the November ballot is the "Live Within Our Means Act" which supporters say will cap spending to ensure the State's fiscal health.

Its opponents in the education community counter that it will "gut" Proposition 98 -- the law which guarantees a minimum level of funding for California schools.

In the meantime, the District must "plan and prepare," basing its numbers on the proposed State budget.

The Board will adopt a budget after a public hearing on Friday, June 24 at 4:00 p.m. in the school District Office board room at 1651 16th Street.

The District's final budget will be submitted on June 27 to the County Board of Education, which will send it on to the State after it is approved.

The next regular school board meeting will be held on Thursday, July 28 at 5:30 p.m. in the District Office board room.