By Sara Ballenger

The Los Altos School District approved a balanced budget for the 2001-2002 school year at its June 18 meeting. To achieve a balanced budget, plus the state required 3 percent reserve, cuts in expenditures had to be made. The cuts followed the recommendations the Budget Review Committee made to the school board at its April 9 meeting. The committee made its recommendations based on the projection of a $3 million deficit for the 2001-2002 school year.

“We went through our normal, careful deliberate process of reviewing our programs and making recommendations for next year’s budget,” said Randy Kenyon, assistant superintendent of Business Services. “I think we have a good and fair process for determining our priorities. Our budget reflects those priorities.”

Some of the major changes from last year’s budget follow:

-Staffing changes - 35 fewer employees;

- Program changes - fewer employees; supply equipment budgets cut;

- Salaries - 12% total increase;

- Inflation - $100,000.

The cuts will be implemented at different times throughout the upcoming school year.

“The cuts are on paper only for the time being,” Kenyon said. “We will wait to see what the state budget has in it for our schools and how our bottom line is after we close our books this summer.”

The list of possible cuts contains 38 items with those at the top of the list to be implemented first. The first item on the list is two “unassigned teachers,” which represents $145,000 in budget reductions, as part of balancing the $3 million deficit.

Kenyon said that the district will see how many of the cuts will actually need to be made.

“Some(cuts) we are planning on, such as slightly higher class sizes on average, and no transitional kindergarten for the upcoming year,” Kenyon said; “if only to try to increase our efficiency of operation.”

The district was able to save six items on the potential cut list, including Community Health Advisory Committee counselors in schools.

“The (Los Altos Educational) Foundation and the PTA are both already helping a great deal,” Superintendent Marge Gratiot said of the district’s additional fund raising for programs and supplies.

Gratiot hopes that not all of the cuts will be made, but is worried about the availability of state funds to the district.

“I am not optimistic about the possibility of receiving the one-time State money that has helped us in the past,” Gratiot said.

“Most of the energy in Sacramento is toward helping low performing schools, and we certainly won’t qualify for those funds.”

According to the Budget Review Committee recommendations, potential cuts could begin this summer.