A blunted round of budget cuts by the state of California buoyed the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) on Dec. 13, leading school board trustees to close out the 2011 calendar year by approving the first draft of their budget for the 2012-13 school session. Just before the school board’s last meeting of the year last week, the state announced mid-year cuts to the school district would only be $7 million — not the $30 million school officials were expecting. However, the SDUSD is still in a holding pattern as it waits for more news in January on the state budget from Gov. Jerry Brown. The preliminary 2012-13 budget adopted by the school board still leaves a $73 million gap to close, which means the SDUSD still faces a significant budget shortfall. The budget includes using proceeds from real-estate sales, reaching into reserves and eliminating 15 vacant nonteaching positions. The board has until June 30 to approve a final budget. SDUSD Superintendent Bill Kowba said the school board is committed to maintaining the district’s financial solvency and will do all it can to safeguard K-12 education. The district estimates it will generate about $21 million in revenue by the combined sale of the Mission Beach administrative site, located on the beach near Belmont Park; Barnard Elementary School in Point Loma and Bay Terraces 11, an empty lot in the Morse Cluster in Southeast San Diego. In other business, the board closed the book on a school realignment and closure plan that was set in motion in October as a result of the state’s projected revenue cuts. What started as a plan to close 14 schools citywide ended as a five-point plan giving the Mission Bay High Cluster the district’s only K-12 international baccalaureate program. Originally, the SDUSD planned to close Pacific Beach Middle School and consolidate the middle-school campus and high school to create a 6-12 international baccalaureate program at Mission Bay High. The board vowed to create and sustain Mission Bay High School, even if district-funded transportation is significantly reduced. As it stands now, about 78 percent of the high school’s students arrive by bus. The board also approved authorization for staff to negotiate a joint occupancy agreement with the Peninsula Family YMCA to build recreational facilities and a community center at Pacific Beach Middle School. The proposal includes developing 2.67 acres of the school in two phases. Phase one would include an artificial-turf arena soccer field, an open, natural-turf athletic field — both fields will have lighting for night events — a track surface around the perimeter of the fields, a field house with administrative offices, storage and restrooms and additional parking. The second phase would include renovation of the existing building on the corner of Felspar and Ingraham streets, which currently houses district staff. The building would be used by the YMCA for its staff and YMCA activities. All costs to design, develop/construct, operate and maintain the recreational facilities and community center will be paid for by the YMCA, according to school district documents.