UT Article - Dec 15 - SD school employees warned of cuts, layoffs

Article in today's U-T seems to state that SDUSD is not as badly affected as other districts in San Diego county.

It also reaffirms that SDUSD and all public school districts are under no obligation to provide transportation or schools that are "close" to the residence of its students.

The overall impact to our cluster is not clear.  It implies that State funding will be reduced specifically for busing.  This will put addition pressure on the MB Cluster to recruit parents to drive their own students.  Does this mean the cluster should organize some type of private transportation opportunities for students willing to pay?  

Schools searching for ways to offset busing cuts

Districts consider tapping reserves to maintain bus service 

Education officials across San Diego County are scrambling to keep school buses rolling after the governor’s announcement this week that the state will cut $248 million in school transportation funding beginning Jan. 1.
School districts plan to tap reserves or adjust budgets — if they can — to make up for the loss of about $15 million in state funding in the county.
Although the cuts are imminent, school districts are expected to continue providing bus service at least until March, according to David Walrath, legislative advocate for the Small School Districts’ Association. He said schools must give a 60-day notice before laying off bus drivers.
Eventually doing away with busing is an unthinkable option for some rural districts, according to Kevin Ogden, superintendent of the Julian Union School District.
“This cut hits small, rural school districts serving low-income families unfairly,” he said, calling school transportation a “lifeline” for poor.
Without buses, he said, “some parents may have to find themselves having to choose between their jobs and ensuring their children make it to and from school safely.”
The reductions are part of $1 billion in spending cuts triggered because state revenue fell short of optimistic projections.
“We’re not going to cut transportation in the middle of the year,” said Bernie Rhinerson, chief of staff for the San Diego Unified School District, which will lose about $4.5 million in bus funding. The district has an operating budget of just over $1 billion.
A breakdown of the cuts per student provided by the California School Employees Association shows a heavy burden on rural districts, even though the overall reduction may seem small.
Based on 2010-11 data used to estimate the busing cuts last spring, Warner Unified would face a loss of nearly $100,000 — which amounts to $396 per student. For Julian, it would be $282 per pupil and $179 at Mountain Empire.
San Diego Unified’s per pupil loss would come to $38, according to the association data.
Walrath said the small districts association will push the Legislature to spread the pain around more equitably.
Rural school officials held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the cuts. Some were at a loss at how they will deal with them.
Jackie Finch, transportation coordinator for the Dehesa school district and herself a bus driver, said, “We simply have nothing left to cut. … As a rural district, Dehesa is not able to reduce transportation by even a fraction.”
Justin Cunningham, superintendent of the 2,000-student Bonsall Union School District, said Bonsall will have to “find the means, whether it is reserves or some other way” to meet the $190,000 cut.
But he said the district won’t make any decisions until mid-January when the governor unveils his budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
Carmen Garcia, superintendent of the Borrego Springs Unified School District, detailed the plight of a rural school district with a small student population and vast miles to cover.
Her district has 500 students but they are spread over 700 square miles. She said the impact of the cuts would come to $170 per student.

Lakeside Union School District’s Brian Bristol called the cuts “one of the most treacherous things we’ve experienced in years.” He estimates that … if applied against the transportation budget, the cuts will mean 20 percent of his low-income students will have no way to reach school and as many as 20 jobs could be eliminated.
To get a sense of the proportion of the cuts, Alpine Unified Superintendent Tom Pellegrino’s said his 90-square-mile district is facing a $100,000 cut in a $400,000 budget that serves 600 bus riders. “The district’s entire budget for gas and electricity is $100,000,” he said.
“Some parents already pay a $1,000 fee to get their kids to school. Should we raise their fee?” he asked.
California does not require schools to transport students except when required by law, such as busing for special education students. Districts that provide bus service for all students can charge for the rides.
Gov. Jerry Brown said he had no choice on the home-to-school transportation funding because that program was among many specifically targeted in the budget if revenues only came up to a certain level.
“There aren’t many happy alternatives,” he said at the Sacramento news conference Tuesday when he announced the $1 billion in cuts.
He dismissed the viability of legal action to block the busing cuts by the Los Angeles Unified School District, contending the state is on solid ground.
As for districts that say they have no choice but to cut busing, the governor disagreed. He said they could take money from elsewhere.
“Any school district that wants to spend on … transportation can do that,” he said. “They have their funds and this is local flexibility to make whatever decision they want. So you can view this basically as a cut to the overall school system and eliminating, for at least this year, one categorical program.”
While decrying the transportation cuts, education officials across the state this week expressed relief that the state revenue shortfall was not as bad as had been feared, averting more severe school cuts.
Staff writer Michael Gardner contributed to this report.