School Budget Situation Not Great But Not Horrible Either

Pleasanton school officials have been waiting for Gov. Jerry Brown to release a state budget revision, saying locals wouldn't know exactly how badly school programs would be affected until that came out.

The good news is it's not as bad as they thought.

"But we're not popping champagne corks just yet," said Trustee Joan Laursen on Tuesday night.

In January, school officials said the shortfall in Pleasanton would be about $7.7 million. Now, they think it'll be around $3.7 million — or less depending on how things go.

This gap will be filled through cuts and local fundraising efforts, they said.

In January, state officials were saying California's shortfall for the 2011-12 fiscal year would be around $26.6 billion. According to revisions released last week, it's actually going to be more like $10.8 billion. Tentatively, that is.

Luz Cazares, assistant superintendent of business services, said officials won't know for sure what the challenges will be until the budget is formally adopted, so much of what trustees discussed Tuesday night was speculation, she said.

Cazares said that the district's cashflow situation will likely improve if around $3 billion in Proposition 98 money is restored statewide. That money comes from property tax revenues.

Trustee Chris Grant said that the budget revisions don't mean the district is flush with cash all of a sudden, as some media outlets are reporting.

"For us, it's not an increase," he said.

The district has already approved $3.5 million in cuts, and teachers and school employees have offered up another $1.7 million in concessions.

In light of the lukewarm news from the state, many parents and teachers attended Tuesday's school board meeting to ask that beloved programs and staff time be restored.

"This is an opportunity to give back the furlough days," said Mary Jo Carreon, referring to school workers.

"We are a team and some of our team members are hurting."

Others begged school officials to restore physical education programs, which were cut significantly.

And still others asked that officials consider keeping class sizes at 25 rather than 30, so their children can get more one-on-one attention from teachers.

That would cost about $1.3 million, and is something that hasn't been targeted by school-sponsored fundraising efforts because it's simply too expensive, officials say.

Cazares said the deadline for state budget approval is July 1, but last year, it wasn't approved until October. However, the governor's office is saying it should be on time this year.

"The numbers are changing very quickly," said Laursen.

She said she's ecstatic about talk of rescinding cuts statewide, "but I'm concerned it could all unravel in a month."

She said it's tough for school workers who have been told they won't have a job come this fall, but the district must wait until there's activity at the state level to rescind any cuts.

Meanwhile, a grassroots campaign to keep class sizes at 25 students is in full swing, with parents earning $130,000 in pledges in just a week.

Some parents have talked about pulling their kids out of the Pleasanton district and moving them to private schools because of the class-size issue, but parents involved with the fundraising movement are determined to meet their funding goal.

"We can do this," said parent Andrea Stokoe. "We have to stop waiting for someone else to fix the problem."

The official fundraising arm of the district, the Pleasanton Partnerships in Education foundation (PPIE), has raised $90,000 so far.

Stay tuned for Patch updates about how the foundation plans to work more closely with the schools to raise much-needed money.