Fremont Union is a basic aid school district, which historically gets its funding from the state through local property taxes and a $120-per-student amount based on average daily attendance. But the state has cut that $120 amount, making the district dependent on local property taxes. The district recently found out the amount it will receive from property taxes this year will drop because businesses are still being affected by the recent economic depression.

"Basic aid districts are not the rich districts," said Shelby Spain, director of guidance, testing, and assessment. Spain and Bruce Shimizu, Fremont Union's director of student and community services both recently came on board at Fremont Union from positions in the Campbell Union and East Side Union High school districts, respectively. "Our two districts were [average daily attendance], and we'd encourage transfers because we'd get more money," she said.

That situation is not the case in Fremont Union, where each new student coming into the district costs about $6,000 to educate but doesn't bring in additional funding. Fremont Union doesn't allow intradistrict transfers, and all students who live within the district boundaries are guaranteed a spot contingent upon proof of residency with something like an electric bill. But those students who cannot easily produce such documentation have been able to apply for admission through an affidavit process. Until now.

"We're asking parents to proceed differently than in the past," said Polly Bove, deputy superintendent. "We need to be extremely careful about serving students who live in the community." The economic situation prompted the Fremont Union board of trustees to suspend the affidavit process on Aug. 17, so district personnel are now personally investigating each of the approximately 800 students admitted on affidavits.

The district has sent letters to all special-attendance students, and district officials have each been meeting or speaking with 15 to 18 families a day. "The response has been mixed," Spain said. "Some are hardship cases who have been very understanding of the situation." Many affidavit cases are students who live in shared-housing situations or otherwise have difficulty proving legitimate residency.

District officials have discovered that doctored rental agreements are available on the Internet, which is just one of the ways overzealous parents try to enroll their children in district schools when they don't live within Fremont Union's boundaries. "There are many, many different strategies in place," said Shimizu. "We're having to become more innovative than they are."

But the investigations have weeded out families who were deceiving the district. "We have found a few that are paying for an address," Bove said. "We'll look at things like bank statements or income taxes, but we can also do a [home visit]. Most understand that they'll have to leave the district."

This process has been occupying the time of many district officials, and adult education employees, retired administrators and teachers have been helping with school site visits and translating when necessary. But officials say whatever expense this investigation is incurring is worth it.

"We see seniors applying for senior privileges who have addresses that aren't in the district. That reveals what they've been doing, that they signed a document that perjured themselves," Shimizu said, adding that district Superintendent Dr. Steve Rowley was dismayed by this lack of "integrity and honesty."

"Our responsibility is to where our money comes from," Spain added. "The community expects integrity and honesty from us, too."

The district is also looking to its employees to help shoulder the burden—all employees will sustain a 4.9 percent cut in salary for this school year. It's not a surprise—the rollback is in the contracts—but it's not necessarily welcome. "Nobody's thrilled about it," Bove said. "It is part of the contractual agreement, and they've known since last spring that this was a possibility."

The union contracts state that salary rollbacks are a possibility if the district's reserves fall below 3 percent. And with $8 million in budget cuts over the past two years, according to Bove, that situation became a reality. Teachers have also agreed to increase the average class size by one student in each department and to eliminate the 20-1 ratio in English and math classes to offset costs.

Tom Avvakumovits, president of the Fremont Education Association, said that the teachers are willing to go by what's stated in their contract, despite the fact that they call that section of the contract the "doomsday clause." The salary rollback has been part of Fremont Union teacher contracts for more than a decade, but Avvakumovits hasn't seen it exercised in his 11 years in the district.

"It is painful and disturbing, because teachers might start looking at neighboring district salaries, and this may make it hard to retain teachers when we have a lot of people retiring," he said. "There's no more room to cut—next will be cuts at the heart of the program, and that's when the community will really start to feel it."

The 4.9 percent cut, which will affect all employee groups, should only last for the current school year. But if finances do not improve, there's no telling what the future holds.