Nearly 70 angry teachers flooded the Hollister School District
board room Tuesday in protest of what they believe are more than $6
million in budget discrepancies, as opposed to the roughly $2
million in cuts and corrections the board voted to approve.
Hollister – Nearly 70 angry teachers flooded the Hollister School District board room Tuesday in protest of what they believe are more than $6 million in budget discrepancies, as opposed to the roughly $2 million in cuts and corrections the board voted to approve.
“If the high school can fix their budget errors and give teachers what they deserve, why can’t this one?” said HSD teacher Mistee Coch, addressing the board.
The Hollister Elementary School Teachers’ Association, after working with a representative from the California Teacher’s Association, believes that the district has $6 million in funds available for salary negotiations partially due to $1.5 million in Cost of Living Adjustment funds allotted to the district from the state and the $2 million in budget errors the board voted to correct. HESTA also maintains that over $1 million in unrestricted funds is not being used, even after accounting for a state-mandated 3 percent reserve, and believes that more teaching positions were budgeted than were actually filled this year, leaving an additional $1.8 million untouched.
“The district budgeted in enough funds for 332 certificated employees,” said HESTA President Jan Grist. “But there are only 301 – that’s nearly a $1.8 million difference.”
District officials, on the other hand, maintain that no additional funding exists besides the $2 million in cuts and corrections made to last year’s $43.5 million budget. The teacher allotment existed only in a supplemental report, said HSD Interim Superintendent Ron Crates, and was never factored in to the actual budget.
“The supplemental report does have 31 extra teaching positions on it,” said Crates. “But when you go back to the budget and look at the dollars that were actually spent, the money doesn’t match up.”
For the first hour of what proved to be over a four-hour meeting, HESTA members confronted the board with their numbers and demanded the money be used for salary negotiations, many of them sporting black and white “Students Are Our Special Interest” shirts.
“The district has been running around like Chicken Little, saying ‘There’s no money,’ and our union has already taken a pay cut and saved you tens of thousands of dollars,” said teacher John Bulos. “Board members, the sky is not falling, but your credibility as leaders in this community is.”
According to Board President Eugenia Sanchez, Tuesday was the first time the board had heard about a possible $4 million discrepancy between the union’s figures and the district’s.
The board passed a budget resolution Tuesday which will free up $2.1 million in money initially overstated for routine repair and maintenance and transportation, as well as roughly $500,000 in special education and operating cuts.
These changes allowed the board to adopt a second interim report, which was submitted to the County Office of Education Wednesday. Last year the district submitted a “qualified” budget to the County Office, which means that had the district failed to make cuts or increase revenues, the district would not be able to continue to pay its bills and would be running at a $2.9 million deficit by 2008.
This second report, then, is a “positive” report, indicating that the district will be able to sustain itself for at least three years.
“We have to review it to determine where we’re going, we have to crunch some numbers,” said County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley. “But it’s an extraordinary step forward.”
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or
ds****@fr***********.com
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