With a proposed 10 percent budget cut across all departments hovering over Sacramento, San Diego school administrators are preparing to tighten budgets throughout the district.
The cuts may result in lost jobs and less spending on special programs as well as reductions in areas such as special training for teachers, according to school officials.
State legislators have yet to decide how much money schools will get from the state this next fiscal year. With about 80 percent of the San Diego Unified School District’s budget going to pay teachers and staff, area superintendents like Carol Barry are trying to save money where they can. Barry is the area superintendent for about 29 schools, located mostly in the Peninsula area.
“We have about a $79 million problem in San Diego Unified,” Barry said, “funding that we won’t get from the state.”
She said the district’s $20 million in reserve funds isn’t enough to cover a potential $79 million cut. She said the district would likely make cuts in central office jobs and services, with the bulk of the cuts in jobs.
Under the state’s education code, schools had to have notified teachers of possible reassignments for next fall by Saturday, March 1. Any teacher who may not have a job next fall must be notified by Saturday, March 15, according to Jack Brandais, SDUSD media relations officer.
As administrators work to keep student-teacher ratios constant in light of the possible cuts, Barry said she might have less money to spend on technology training for teachers and other programs such as wireless Internet access on campus.
“What we want to do is have the least impact we can have on children,” Barry said.
For now, administrators have asked parents to enroll their school-age children in the district’s 6 to 6 program, which provides a safe place for children to stay and do homework while their parents are at work, according to officials.
While administrators prepare for the worst, school officials continue to remind parents and employees that neither state legislators nor the San Diego Unified School District’s Board of Education has decided how much money the district and its associated programs may end up receiving. The board of education decides on any changes made to programs funded by the state, Barry said.
The SDUSD Board of Education meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at the Eugene Brucker Education Center Auditorium, 4100 Normal St., from noon to 3 p.m.