New NHUSD Budget Plan Could Spare Some Activities, Staff

There may be hope for the New Haven Unified School District.

A new 2011-2012 conditional budget proposal, based on Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised state budget plan, paints a less dismal picture for the 2011-12 school year, though significant cuts in programs and staff still remain.

“Our conditional budget recommendation will take the approach of trying to provide as much critical mission relief across and within the system as possible,” said Superintendent Kari McVeigh in a statement Thursday. “To that end, no previously cut program will be fully restored with this proposed budget. However, as many as possible previously cut or reduced programs will receive a level of relief that will allow them to move forward.”

The new district plan will be formally presented to the school board next Tuesday and voted on during the June 21 meeting.

The spending plan is based on the condition that Brown’s proposal is approved.

Brown’s budget revision, which was released last month, projects that the state will take in $6.6 billion more in tax revenue for this year and next than originally expected.

About $1.6 billion of that would go toward K-12 education and community colleges throughout the state.

As a result, NHUSD may be able to rehire 20 earlier this year. That number could increase due to retirements and other attrition, McVeigh noted. However, no teachers can formally be rehired until the state makes its decision.

In addition, the district will be able to provide $200,000 of the approximately $360,000 that it pays coaches and advisers for extra- and co-curricular activities such as sports programs, band and color guard, forensics, choir and drama, according to district officials.

The restoration of sports and music programs was a critical piece of , an emergency funding parcel tax that lost by a slim margin in early May. The New Haven Boosters Association and New Haven Schools Foundation have since launched to make up for the shortfall. In addition, a student-led campaign to save activities at James Logan High School has already raised more than $25,000 in the last three weeks, the district reports.

Under the new budget, the district will also be able to at James Logan High School, Alvarado Middle School and Cesar Chavez Middle School so that the libraries are not forced to close. Library support staff positions, however, will not be restored.

The adult education program, which was , will also be resuscitated to some degree. The district will be able to provide minimum funding so that the adult school can continue on a limited basis with additional federal funding, officials said in a press release Thursday.

“If this looks like good news, it’s only because of how bad the news has been for the past several months and because of how deep we had to cut as we planned for 2011-12,” McVeigh said. 

Next year’s budget is still $6 million smaller than last year's and $15 million less than three years ago, according to McVeigh.

Due to the deficit, the budget calls for the instructional year to be shortened from 180 to 175 days and for all employees to take an additional furlough day, resulting in smaller paychecks. The New Haven Administrators Association has agreed to the plan, and a ratification of an agreement with the New Haven Teachers Association is pending; officials discussed the plan with the California School Employees Association Thursday, according to the press release.

In addition, each of the seven elementary schools in the district will be assigned one part-time assistant principal.

“The burden on our elementary principals, some of whom have more than 900 students on campus, was simply too great,” McVeigh said.

Alvarado and Cesar Chavez Middle Schools will have 1.5 assistant principals each, instead of two. James Logan and Conley Caraballo High School will lose one administrator each under the conditional plan.

Four counseling positions, a psychologist and a classified management position will also be eliminated.

Class sizes will increase in some elementary grades, but not as much as initially planned. Kindergarten will increase from a 20-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio to 25-to-1. First and second grades will remain at 25-to-1. Third grade classrooms, which are currently staffed at 25-to-1, will increase to 30-to-1.

The previous budget plan painted a bleaker picture of the next school year to cover a $10.4 million funding gap. In March, the school board approved an interim budget in which all K-3 classes would increase to 30-to-1 and the work year would be reduced by nine days instead of six.

“The governor’s May revise, though an improvement to the January budget proposal, does not change the fact that schools continue to be under-resourced, and the uncertainty of funding remains high,” said Chief Business Officer Akur Varadarajan in a statement.

“If the Legislature does not pass the (state) budget as proposed and if the $4.3 million in revenue does not materialize, the district must institute all the cuts that were proposed,” he said.