Photograph by Ann Nelson
Superintendent Tod Likins
By Cecily Barnes
The Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District was thrown for a loop last Tuesday, when figures from the county controller's office showed the district's budget to be $1.2 million less than the estimate given in September.
Superintendent Tod Likins was pulled from a board meeting and told the news. He then reported the potentially catastrophic new information to the board. However, less than two hours later, new figures rolled in which indicated the reduced figure--less than $10 million--was erroneous. The revised total of $10.6 million placed the district's budget very close to the September estimate of nearly $11 million.
Yet board members and Likins said they now don't know which figures to believe.
"There isn't any reason to believe that the information we have now is accurate," Likins said angrily. "We get inaccurate and untimely information on a regular basis from that office."
After receiving the county controller's figures, Likins struck four finance matters from the board's agenda. Among these was a salary-increase agreement for district administrators and other employees; all that was needed to finalize ongoing negotiations was the board's vote of approval.
Likins said he struck the items from the agenda because the board had no idea how much money it was working with. When the second figure rolled in two hours later, Likins was hesitant to reintroduce these fiscal matters to the board.
"It is impossible for the board of education to ratify an agreement with the teachers if we don't know what we have," he said. "The board has postponed a decision on that contract until we have something fashionable from the [county controller's] office."
The high school district is a Basic Aid district. This means they are totally dependent on local taxes. Most California schools are funded according to the Average Daily Attendance system, wherein the state pays a set dollar amount for each student at school that day. Basic Aid districts are financed based solely upon assessed-property valuation. The high school district receives its final dollar figures for its budget from the county controller's office, via the County Office of Education.
"In my opinion, this is really gross negligence on the part of the county finance department," Likins said. "We are completely at the mercy of people who do not seem to know what they're doing."
County Controller Scott Johnson argued that the first budget estimate given to Dorothy Diekmann, director of business and operations for the high school district, was only preliminary and had not yet been approved.
"The numbers were preliminary, not final. They were subject to my final view," Johnson said.
When Johnson was phoned by Diekmann, Johnson reviewed the estimates and disagreed with the methodology that was used. He proceeded to change the figure and then contacted Diekmann with the new number. Johnson said he is doing everything possible to assist the county's Basic Aid districts.
"We have committed to getting four departments of the county together [the controller's office, the assessor's office, the tax collector and urban analysis] to meet with the Basic Aid districts on a regular basis to provide them with as much information as they need to make decisions," Johnson said. The assessor's office determines property values, the tax collector collects the money and the controller's office distributes it.
Likins said his next step will be to contact officials at the county controller's office and get a reliable figure.
"I guess I need to talk to the controller, Scott Johnson, and the director of finance, Bill Parsons, and perhaps Richard Whittenberg, who is chief administrator of the [controller's] office. And perhaps I need to talk to the county Board of Supervisors," Likins said.
Likins also believes a state-conducted audit of the county of Santa Clara is imperative.
"I work for a board of education that is elected just as the county Board of Supervisors is elected," Likins said. "They need a staff that can provide them with accurate information so they can make judicious decisions on behalf of the public."
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 27, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved