| Cupertino Connect: Money woes plague schools, city and county |
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| Written by Kriti Garg and Anandi Somasundaram | |||
| Friday, 05 February 2010 21:51 | |||
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Cupertino was thought to be invincible — there wasn't any visible sign of a recession. But recent reports reveal that Cupertino is in an economic condition worse than previously thought, resulting in a hiring freeze. Not only is the city keeping a close eye on its financial reservoirs, but CUSD, FUHSD and FHDA are also all financially strapped. Santa Clara County as a whole is suffering with a loss of $70 million, and schools are expected to take the biggest hit. The situation is only deteriorating with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest budget proposal. Cupertino takes precaution
City leaders initially went into this fiscal year with a rosy outlook, stating last May that Cupertino would be able to weather this recession with its surplus money. That outlook turned out to be quite distorted—the City Council found an unexpected $1.35 million shortfall in their budget.
A hiring freeze has been installed and 10 city staff positions are now permanently vacant. There will be no changes to current city programs due to the revised budget. The city has approximately $14.6 million reserved in case of extreme economic difficulty and disasters. CUSD to increase classroom sizes, lay off teachers Cupertino Union School District is facing its own set of troubles, which have only worsened with each update from Sacramento. Initially, CUSD was expecting a budget cut of $5 million; however, due to the governor's revised budget proposal, the district could lose an additional $3.8 million, or over $200 per student for the 18,000-student district, bringing the total budget decrease to an estimated $8.8 million. During the past five years, $9.8 million in cuts have been made at the district office. Results of the budget cuts include the increase in classroom sizes of first, second and third grade classes from 20 to 30 students starting the 2010-2011 school year, saving approximately $3 million. The reductions would mean that about 107 teaching positions would be removed throughout the district, in addition to scaling back on custodial and administrative staff, gifted programs and teacher resource centers, which would save an extra $1.95 million. Parents created an online petition to warn of the costly budget cuts, which garnered almost 1200 votes. But the CUSD Board of Trustees maintains that long-term cuts are necessary under current circumstances.  FUHSD to put parcel tax renewal on May ballot; still potential program cutsOn Jan. 12, the FUHSD Board of Trustees voted to put a parcel tax on the May 4 mail-in ballot. The decision came after a parcel tax failed to garner the two-thirds vote needed to pass in the Nov. 3 elections. The May measure will renew the current parcel tax of $98 per year, which expires in 2011, for six years. One survey's results showed that voters' support was strong for a six-year extension of the current parcel tax. In contrast, November's Measure G proposed raising the parcel tax by a minimum of two percent each year with no fixed expiration date on the tax. $98 seems to be measly though, compared to Palo Alto Unified School District's $498 parcel tax. The parcel tax would continue bringing in about $5.2 million for the district, which is approximately five percent of the current yearly budget. Even if the measure does pass in May, schools could still lose teachers, electives, advanced courses, and extracurricular programs. During the week of Jan. 24, the district mailed home to parents a survey detailing programs that could possibly be cut, and asked for input on which five out of 19 services parents would most want to keep. The programs and services that could be removed or reduced include advanced math and world languages, AVID, art, music, drama, athletics, the Career Center, custodial staff, district office staff, electives, Link, guidance counseling, summer school, school administrators, library and tech support staff, science classes, seventh period, at-risk student support, and the Study Buddy Society. Foothill-DeAnza Community College District considering parcel tax Higher fees have led to a higher community college student population, which may lead to the passage of the first ever parcel tax for community colleges. De Anza College faces a deficit of $4.82 million; $4.47 million for Foothill College. The central city services is also $1.87 million in debt. California has never successfully passed a parcel tax measure for a community college district. The parcel tax would cushion the projected $10.66 million debt caused by state budget cuts. The district will begin its campaign Feb. 1.
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 March 2010 06:09 |