Saturday, May 10, 2008

$3 million must be cut from LL schools budget

Kenn Rodriguez News-Bulletin Staff Writer; krodriguez@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas A slowing economy nationally and locally, as well as a slight decline in the number of students and a surprising result from an improvement in special education scores, have the Los Lunas Schools looking at a shortfall of just over $3 million for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Superintendent Walter Gibson and Assistant Superintendent for Finance Mario Guggino broke the news to the board and about 40 principals, teachers and staff at a board workshop Tuesday night.

Gibson and Guggino explained that the district's current projections have the district with revenues of $62,929,266 for 2008-09 but expenses of $65,972,786.

They said they'll bring up the budget for approval at the next board meeting on Tuesday, May 13. The budget the district staff presented Tuesday will bring the district's finances into the black by a slim margin of $11,233 but will require the district to eliminate 30 teaching positions.

Gibson said this would be done largely by not replacing several retiring teachers and not filling positions, such as an assistant principalship at Los Lunas Middle School, a dean of students job at Manzano Vista Middle School, as well as several positions at the central office, including math and curriculum and support positions in truancy, which are not occupied now.

"It's a pretty large number," said Gibson. "It's been a very difficult process. This is not anything that any of us want to do. Personnel, people, are the core of our business - teachers matter, administrators matter, leaders matter. And to make any cuts is very, very hard. Unfortunately, there's this confluence of circumstances that are really hurting us in terms of the budget."

Gibson said the district lost out on more than $2.5 million in state funding.

By taking 110 students out of special education, Gibson said the district lost $1.5 million.

The district's enrollment also declined for the first time in 10 years, siphoning off $487,000 in funding. The district was also hurt when Valencia High School was taken out of the small school classification, causing another loss in the range of $482,000.

"By far, that was the biggest thing," Gibson said of losing special education money. "It's very hard to predict. It would've almost been impossible for us to know because it's individual kids. But should we have seen it coming better than we did.

"The funding formula for special ed is a disincentive," he said. "The incentive is to keep kids in special ed because you get more money for them."

He said state school districts are banding together to get a new funding formula passed that doesn't weigh special education numbers as heavily. It passed the State House of Representatives in the last legislative session but died in a Senate committee.

Gibson said the district's financial staff went through 21 versions of the budget trying to come up with a plan that would bring the numbers in line while not cutting vital positions such as teachers.

"We just didn't see any way to do it by just cutting administrative positions and support positions," he said. "We had to go to teachers. And it was with reluctance that we did. We're going to continue to work on it, but the other comment that was made on the level of support for schools is also an important piece. So there's a balancing act between providing the right level of support for schools, in all of the offices here and the principals' offices and assistant principals' offices in the school as well as getting the savings that we need."

Board vice president Maria Marez said during the workshop that it's vital for the district to come up with a budget that doesn't negatively impact the district's classrooms.

"I'll reiterate what I said earlier — I think we need to make our budget cuts as far away from our students as possible," she said. "I'm hoping it's a temporary situation and that we'll be able to recover for next year. My job is to represent the community and the parents out there. When you talk about cutting 30 teachers and still achieving the student success that we're expecting, it's an oxymoron to me."

Marez said she hoped the district's staff would find a way to spread any necessary cuts across the district and in administration as well as the schools.

"The entire board showed tonight that we're looking for equity across the board in all departments," she said. "So, going into Tuesday night, it's our job to make sure that we monitor and make sure the staff did a fair and equitable job looking into every department.

"The bottom line is that the kids are not affected by this budget crunch. I think we can find it in other areas where they don't feel it in the classroom."

Board president Frank Otero agreed to a certain extent but said staff cuts might be a necessity, not simply an option.

"Considering that 85 percent of our budget is in personnel, I think we have no alternative but to look at those areas," he said. "Just to determine what class size would be in the best interest of our students while maintaining our budget. It is going to be a tough year for us but we're confident that we can get through this and hopefully we'll move on to something more positive in the future."

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