In order to balance its budget, Hollister School District
announced plans to cut more than $2 million in expenses and suspend
all staff pay raises for the next three years, frustrating teachers
who feel they are the victims of years of fiscal mismanagement by
the Board of Trustees.
Hollister – In order to balance its budget, Hollister School District announced plans to cut more than $2 million in expenses and suspend all staff pay raises for the next three years, frustrating teachers who feel they are the victims of years of fiscal mismanagement by the Board of Trustees.
In response to a 90-day deadline imposed by the San Benito County Office of Education, Hollister School District Superintendent Ron Crates detailed his plan to balance the district’s budget for the next three years for the first time Tuesday. Hollister School District, which will be operating at a $2.9 million deficit by 2008 if expense are not curtailed, could face state take-over if it cannot balance its $42 million annual budget.
Crates presented a plan to bring the district’s fiscal house back in order by cutting $2.3 million in expenses over the next two years. He said those cuts would allow the district to meet its financial obligations, including the state-mandated 3 percent reserve for economic uncertainty, though the 2007-2008 school year.
In addition, Crates proposed freezing all staff salary raises in order to keep expenses from increasing. Teachers are in the midst of negotiating a new contract and could feel the pinch as negotiations proceed. The district’s plan to suspend scheduled pay raises for three years is “unconscionable,” Hollister Elementary School Teachers Association President Jan Grist said Wednesday.
“The district has decided that they won’t own up to the fact that they got us into this (financial position),” Grist said. ” We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore.”
Teachers are important to the district, but scheduled pay raises are not an option at this time, Board of Trustees President Margie Barrios said.
“We first need to do whatever it takes to balance our budget. After that, we can compensate our teachers with what we have,” she said. “As it stands right now, (the money) is not there.”
However, a one-time employee pay raise is still an option, Crates said.
“There is room in (the budget) for some type of financial recognition,” he said.
The recently-formed Citizens Action Council, a group of concerned parents, teachers and community members, will be advising the board on exactly where the $2.3 million in cuts should be made. The newly-proposed cuts are a part of a total of $6 million in cumulative cuts over the next three years, Chief Business Officer Jack Bachofer said.
“It’s going to be very difficult, but I’m going to try to keep (the cuts) as far away from the classroom as possible,” Crates said. “I surely do not want to increase class sizes.”
The district has been using reserves to cover deficits for the last two years, and the San Benito county Office of Education gave it’s budget a qualified financial certification June. That means the district may not be able to pay its bills for the current year or two following years.
This year’s budget projects that HSD will be $1.1 million short of meeting its state-mandated reserves in the 2006-07 fiscal year. In August, County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley gave the Hollister School District 90 days to present him with a plan for a balanced budget because the district received the qualified certification.
Teachers recently proposed a salary and benefit contract that would result in a $5 million budget increase for the district over the next three years, Crates said. That proposal is not likely to gain board approval, he said. In his plan to balance the district’s budget, Crates indicated that accepting the teachers’ proposal would force the board to consider increasing the number of students in kindergarten through third grade classrooms, something both teachers and administrators don’t want to happen.
“We’re very concerned – that’s not the direction we want to take,” Barrios said. “But we have to put that in the plan because we might not have a choice.”
Grist was outraged that the district inserted such language into the budget plan.
“It’s blaming the teachers,” she said. “It’s saying that if class sizes go up it will be our fault.”
Even if raises won’t be forthcoming, Grist said teachers would continue with their jobs as usual.
“Our commitment to our students will not change,” she said.
Brett Rowland covers education for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or br******@fr***********.com.
