By Sara Ballenger
The Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District has made the difficult decsion of adopting a budget reduction priority list, as the Board of Trustees attempts to cut $2.5 million for the 2003-04 school year. The board will adopt its budget by June 23.
Superintendent Rich Fischer said that he and the board know that the first round of cuts must be made, along with some second round cuts, and it is not yet certain if the third level of cuts will be necessary.
According to Fischer, over 83 percent of the district’s total budget is spent on employee salaries, benefits and associated costs.
The first round of cuts are as follows: substitute teacher costs for $70,286 or a 20 percent reduction; overtime compensation for $69,400 or a 100 percent reduction; conference and travel time for $76,000 or a 80 percent reduction; public relations for $20,000 or a 50 percent reduction; postpone building the new Alta Vista High School for one year to capture developer fees to repay the general fund for $300,000; board costs for $15,000 or a 20 percent reduction; telephone costs for $10,000 or a 12 percent reduction; shift all costs possible to grants for $200,000; eating disorder program bill back for $20,000 and reduce County Community School for $49,500 or a 75 percent reduction.
The MV-LA High School Foundation will give an additional contribution to the Tutorial Center for $37,000; the College and Career centers for $40,000 and supplement Class Size Reduction for $142,000. The total foundation gift value to the budget reduction process is the amount of $219,000. The total cuts for phase one is $1,049, 186.
“It’s always tough to cut a school district budget, but I’m proud of the Budget Advisory Committee and the Board, because working together we have an approved plan that has the potential to cut almost nothing from the classroom and only one employee position,” said Superintendent Rich Fischer. If our assumptions for revenue, State cuts and enrollment next year hold true, we will only need to make the phase two cuts, which will protect class size reduction and many important employee positions.”
The second round of cuts would be as follows: payoffs for vacation/compensation time for $55,000 or a 50 percent reduction; close Opportunity High School for $150,000; coordinator of operations and transportation for $75,000 or a 100 percent reduction; recover all use fees for $30,000; swimming pools/ off-season heat for $6,000; curriculum Institute for $50,000 or a 100 percent reduction; extra-curricular transportation for $76,924 or a 100 percent reduction; reduction of administrative costs equal to .50 Full-Time Equivalent administrator/confidential for $60,000; extra pay for extra duty (EPED) “undesignated” allocations open for $20,000; per pupil allocation to schools reduced by approximately $10 per pupil for $33,450 or a 5 percent reduction for a phase two total cuts of $556.374.
The next school board meeting has been scheduled 7 p.m., May 12, in the District Office Board Room, 1299 Bryant Ave., Mountain View. For more information, call the district office 940-4650.
