By Tim Persyn
After years of disappointing news from state legislators regarding funding for education, the financial situation for the Saratoga Union School District might continue to improve in 1996-97, according to district employees and school board members who attended a Jan. 12 meeting on the governor's proposed budget in Sacramento.
However, SUSD board President Cindy Ruby said the district won't be certain about next year's state budget until July.
The meeting was hosted by School Services of California, a company that interprets the impact of state budgets on California schools. SUSD holds a membership with the organization.
In positive news, the district would receive a 3.34 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) under the governor's proposal. If this COLA is approved in the final budget, it would be the second consecutive year the district received an adjustment, after three years without one. The proposed adjustment would mean an average increase in spending of $104 per student.
An important issue in the financial outlook of California's K-12 schools is the level of the deficit in state funding for education, which amounts to the discrepancy between how much funding schools are supposed to receive based on levels dictated by Proposition 98, and the actual level of funding the state delivers in its budget.
As an illustration, Prop. 98 might dictate that in a given year the state is supposed to deliver $1,000 per student. But when the actual budget is approved, the state may deliver only $900, and thus schools would experience a deficit in their funding of 10 percent.
SUSD expects a 10 percent to 11 percent deficit for 1996-97, the same deficit the district is facing this year.
"Although we received a small COLA this fiscal year, all we're doing is filling in for what we haven't had," said Ellen Tipton, business manager for SUSD. "It doesn't make up for the deficits incurred in the prior three years when we received no COLA."
Tipton added that California ranks 40th in the nation in spending per student at the K-8 level.
Superintendent Mary Gardner said the news from Sacramento had some mixed messages. "While the budget is a step forward because the COLA is much needed, it is not bringing California in line with other states in terms of per-pupil spending," she said.
Gardner added that although the district would receive funding for some specific expenditures on instructional materials, it would experience cuts for categorical programs such as special education and gifted and talented education.
"We're gaining a little, and we're losing some," she said.
Ruby thought the news from Sacramento was good overall. "For the first time in five years, the California economy is moving positively. [This budget] provides the most money in four years for K-12," she said. "But we'll have to wait and see. So far, it's good news."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 7, 1996.
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