La Mesa-Spring Valley School Year Is Cut 5 Days Amid ‘Ugly’ Budget Fears

Budget cuts to the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District “would be ugly” if Gov. Jerry Brown’s state spending plan doesn’t pass, the schools superintendent said Tuesday night.

“We are kind of between a rock and [a] hard place,” Brian Marshall, the superintendent, told the school board. “We really have to plan as if we are not going to have that money.”

That includes a local five-day reduction of the 2012-2013 school year to 175 days.

In its first meeting of the year, the board discussed the first, albeit accidental, release of Brown’s budget, and what it means in terms of its own budget.

David Yoshihara, assistant superintendent of business services, said the K-8 district’s budget largely hinges on approval of several tax measures that Brown hopes to get on the November ballot.

Those measures seek to raise about $6.9 billion for the state—$2.5 billion of it for K-14 education.

Marshall said:  “This is just the first of many dances that will take place until the budget is finally approved months from now. It will be another year of a very tenuous budget.”

He added that it’s difficult to budget with such uncertainty.

If Brown’s tax measures are not passed, state schools could see an extra $4.4 billion cut for 2012-13, with the La Mesa-Spring Valley schools having about $370 less per student of a general fund allotment of $5,000 per student, Marshall said.

The board was told that $4.4 billion is the equivalent to losing three weeks’ worth of instruction for schools across the state.

Tuesday night, it turns out, the board approved the next school calendar, which has five fewer school days than the previous year, another result of a dwindling budget. Days being dropped are Aug. 9-10 and Aug. 13-15.

The new school year will begin Aug. 16, 2012, and has 175 student days and 177 teacher days.

Marshall said the new calendar also aligns with that of the Grossmont Union High School District with respect to Thanksgiving, the winter holiday and the winter Monday holidays (Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Washington and Lincoln birthdays). 

The board also received the results of its external audit, conducted by Christy White Acountancy Corp.

The audit, presented by John Dominguez of Christy White, was found to be materially accurate, according to Dominguez. There were a few very minor discrepancies having to do with transportation cash receipts, clerical errors in two independent studies, signed attendance rosters, and the proper work documentation of a district employee.

However, Dominguez concluded that the district’s numbers were accurate conformed with generally accepeted accounting principles in the United States.
Some findings from the audit:

• Total net assets were $48.1 million at June 30, 2011, an increase of $1.2 million from a year prior.
• Overall revenues were $107.9 million, which exceeded expenses of $106.7 million.
• General Fund revenues and other financing sources exceeded expenditures and other financing by $4.4 million.

Other notes from the meeting:

Three Spring Valley schools—, and elementary schools—passed the county Office of Education-required Williams Settlement Legislation inspections, performed in September.

The inspections assess the facilities to make sure they are up to code, the accessibility students have to essential core learning materials, as well as identifying teacher vacancies and Uniform Compliant Procedures.

All three schools passed with percentages more than 95, and received a “Good” designation.