Brown's Bleak Budget Brighter Than Before

The most recent revision of Gov. Jerry Brown's budget gives a new hope to administrators at the Sequoia Union High School District that the financial woes facing the district may not be as bad as originally anticipated, Superintendent James Lianides said Wednesday night.

Lianides broke down Brown's May budget revision during the district Board of Trustees meeting that took place on the Sequoia High School campus in Redwood City.

According to Lianides, reports from Sacramento show the state government collected $2.5 billion more from income tax revenue than was initially projected in January. Projecting forward, the state government expects by June 2012 it will have between $5 billion to $6 billion more than was expected.

Brown said the $2.5 billion will be spent to pay nearly $2.1 billion in payment deferrals the state government was expecting to have to issue to school districts, said Lianides. 

"They will just pay the schools in the year that they deserve the money," said Lianides. "The $2.1 billion doesn't help the books, but it does help the cash flow."

But not all the budget news presented by Lianides was positive. The state is still facing a nearly $10 billion deficit, even after Brown approved several billions of dollars in cuts to state services.

And the governor has elected to stick with his plan to close the remaining budget gap through proposed tax extensions, despite struggling to get the necessary support from conservative lawmakers to pass the tax extensions to voters for ratification in an election.

Lianides said it is now likely that the soonest Gov. Brown may get the tax extensions to voters is during the November elections. And until then, the future of both the state's budget and funding for public education will remain hanging in the balance.

"There is still a fair degree of uncertainty in our planning, but the May revise does improve on the most dire type of projections," said Lianides.

Lianides said it is possible the budget negotiations go on through the duration of the summer, which makes it difficult for the school district to know what to expect going into the fall semester.

He also said it gives little time to react to any potential major shifts in the budget strategy.

 "I think we are in a situation where at least we know it's not as dire as projected before, but it also doesn't give us clear guidance on what we need to move forward and prepare for," said Lianides.

"Usually the May revise gives a clearer picture, but this year we are still in a realm of uncertainty," he said. "We will anxiously await further news coming out of Sacramento."

The high school district is grappling with a structural budget deficit of its own, despite trimming nearly $5 million off its budget after the trustees unanimously approved issuing pink slips to employees during the last board meeting May 4.

And district staff is still reeling from those 33 lay-offs being approved, especially those in the classified workers union that bore the brunt of the job cuts, according to Janet Elliot, a math teacher at Menlo-Atherton High School.

Classified workers, those that are not teachers or administrators, saw 24 positions eliminated from their workforce once the job cuts were approved.

Elliot said the custodial workers at Menlo-Atherton High School are already overworked and unable to complete all their duties. And she said the workload will only increase under the recently approved cuts.

She further accused the trustees of being ignorant of the ways the job cuts will affect district schools, because she claimed the board members do not visit campuses.

"I don't think you know the effect of these cuts unless you get out to the sites," said Elliot.

She suggested the trustees could perform their own version of the hit CBS television show "Undercover Boss," in which the owners of large corporations dress in disguise and perform the less glamours jobs that help the businesses operate on a day-to-day basis.

"You could come on the sites and people wouldn't know who you are. You could be undercover bosses," said Elliot. "It's sad that you are making decisions about your schools without knowing your schools better. "

Board Chair Lorraine Rumley rebutted Elliott's accusations by asserting that trustees do frequently visit the high school campuses, and are well aware of the impact of their decisions.

"I don't just mean for graduations," snapped back Elliot, who extended an invitation to trustees to visit her classroom.