School Cuts: Good News, Bad News
Written by
KEYT Anchor
Story Created:
Dec 13, 2011 at 7:39 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Dec 14, 2011 at 12:51 PM PDT
Santa Barbara - Local school districts are breathing a sigh or relief... sort of.
On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown laid out his list of midyear budget cuts. The automatic cuts were included as part of the budget agreement in June.
The purpose was to show Wall Street that California was serious about getting its financial house in order. Gov. Brown says the state will collect about $1.8 billion instead of the $4 billion projected, enabling automatic 'trigger cuts'.
In total, the governor cut $1 billion for the state budget, which will go into effect January 1st, 2012.
K-12 school districts were at risk of losing as much as $1.5 billion, but that did not materialize.
The Santa Barbara Unified School District had a worst case scenario plan in place. It had negotiated with its teachers for up to 10 furlough days. Fortunately, it will not have to use any of those days, but the school district is still taking a $500,000 cut.
"We'll have to adjust the way we're doing business, we'll have to cut some programs and reduce some expenditures," said Dr. David Cash, superintendent of the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
Cash says a decision has not yet been made about where that money will come from. But he did say, he plans to talk with the different schools in the district and find out how those cuts can be implemented.
The Goleta Union School District will be forced to cut between $250,000 and $300,000. However, those cuts will be absorbed by a $1.25 million reserve.
Both school districts are facing the lose of school bus funding as well. But it does not mean any change for students. Santa Barbara Unified and the Goleta Union School District will both be able to make up that loss.
But the final bell has not yet rung, K-12 schools may still face more cuts.
"The issue is going to remain for us, what does that mean, is it really one time or will it be ongoing. We'll have to wait to the January Governors budget to know that," said Kathleen Boomer, superintendent of the Goleta Union School District.
However, higher education did not fare as well.
$100 million will be cut from the University of California and the California State University systems. UCSB will not be directly affected by this round of cuts. It will be absorbed by the office of the president by tapping reserves.
Community College students are also facing another round of tuition increases. The per-unit fees will go up another $10 for students at Santa Barbara City College.
KEY News Reporter Scott Hurst has the story.
