It is hard to believe that there are less than four months of this school year left. Students have already signed up for classes at the secondary level and registration for TK and Kindergarten are well underway. Enrollment, although declining in K-12, is predicted to remain approximately the same due to the TK enrollment age window expanding to allow children who turn 5 between September 2, 2024 and June 2, 2025 to enroll.
Unfortunately, even with the addition of a larger group of TK students, the MUSD will be facing a budget deficit for the 24-25 school year. At the February 12th board meeting, Andy Cannon, CBO, and I will be presenting a budget reduction plan to the board, based upon budget projections outlined in the Governor's Budget Release in January, the ending of the ESSER and other one time money grant funding the district received to help with for learning loss, and the lowering of the next two years' out COLA for all school districts.
Any reductions tend to hit a district hard, and as Martinez is a relatively small district, the impact will be felt by all. We do have a target number of $3,355,000 which is broken down as follows:
-$2,283,000 is General Fund Reductions which include teachers, administration and classified, materials and supplies, travel and conference, software licensing, deferred maintenance and extra hours.
-$397,000 from categorical one time money which includes classified, administration and certificated employees.
-$680,000 from the Parcel Tax (Measure Q)we currently receive, ONLY if it is not be renewed by voters on March 5th (Measure C).
The MUSD Board will discuss these draft reduction proposals and take public comment either by email (publiccomments@martinez.K12.ca.us) or at the meeting. Any modifications to the proposals will need to be followed by alternative reduction suggestions as the dollar amounts of cuts are not flexible. Resolutions for the final projections will be presented at the March 11th Board Meeting, with the reductions taking place for the 24-25 school year. As a final note, the District Admin Team has made a conscience effort to not fill open positions during the 23-24 school year, wherever possible, to reduce the number of actual employee layoffs.
I realize this is difficult news to hear, and that each of these reductions will have an impact on staff, students, families and program. For the past 30 years I have seen CA funding for schools go up and down and I can assure you that it will get better and these programs and positions will come back over time, in either the same capacity, or better.
For a complete listing of possible reductions please refer to the MUSD School Board Agenda that was sent to the MUSD Community on Friday. As always, please feel free to contact me with questions.
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