Grossmont Union High School District Faces Nearly $1 Million Budget Cut

The Grossmont Union High School District will do its best to absorb close to $1 million in budget cuts in 2012 as a result of new state revenue projections, officials say.

The La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, meanwhile, is thankful the cuts are only a quarter of the size officials had originally estimated.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday announced nearly $1 billion in new state budget cuts to take effect Jan. 1. Among other things, free school-bus service is gone for many districts.

“This is not the way we’d like to run California, but we have to live within our means," Brown told a Capitol news conference.

In the Grossmont high school district, Deputy Superintendent Scott Patterson said Tuesday: “While some are saying that the midyear trigger cuts could have been worse, our view is that any cut on top of those we have already suffered over the last three years is too much.”
 
Patterson, who heads business services in the district, also said he is disappointed that the so-called Home to School Transportation cut remained in place “because it disproportionately affects districts like Grossmont that provide this service. Over 700 regular education students and another 735 special education students rely on a bus ride each day to and from school in our district.”
 
He said the district estimates it will suffer midyear cuts of $775,000 in student transportation funds and $200,000 in per-student funding for a total of $975,000.
 
“While we haven’t made any decisions on midyear budget reductions, it is likely that we will rely heavily on reserves to get us through this year so we protect the stability of this year’s programs already in place,” Patterson said. 

“Looking ahead to next year, even in the best case scenario we will need to make significant and significantly difficult budget cuts.”

At the La Mesa-based K-8 district, schools Superintendent Brian Marshall noted that the state Department of Finance estimated the revenue deficit for the 2011-12 fiscal year. 

“The estimate I have heard is approximately $2.2 billion,” Marshall said Tuesday.  “This is in stark contrast to the [Legislative Analyst’s Office] estimate of $3.7 billion released in November.”
 
Marshall said La Mesa-Spring Valley’s cuts would amount to about $680,000. 

“Our original estimate for the size of the cuts (using the LAO estimate) was $2.8 million,” he said.
 
He added: “It remains to be seen if the cuts will be ongoing or are one-time.  We will look to the January proposed budget to see what our long term plans need to be.  For the time being, we will not change any of our current programs and will use our reserves to cover any cuts in the current year.”
 
The Los Angeles Times reported that Bernie Rhinerson, chief of staff of the San Diego Unified School District, said his district could weather the cuts without reducing its bus program.

The Times also said community colleges are expected to hike fees an additional $10 per unit—from $36 to $46. That comes in the wake of a fall 2011 rise from $26 to $36.