A month after teachers raised questions about how Hollister
School District’s looming $800,000 budget deficit was created, the
district has provided answers to most of the questions.
Hollister – A month after teachers raised questions about how Hollister School District’s looming $800,000 budget deficit was created, the district has provided answers to most of the questions.
Last month’s study session meeting ended with a list of eight questions from teachers that the board of trustees promised to answer at the next school board meeting on Jan. 25. And while the answers don’t provide any insight into how the district plans to deal with a $800,000 budget deficit this year, they do shed some light into the costs the district faces as it struggles to reign in its finances.
Among the questions posed at the session are how much the district spends on its kindergarten classes, why it doesn’t consider a parcel tax or unification with San Benito High School and to what extent special education students’ costs are off-set by Medi-Cal.
Hollister Elementary School Teachers’ Association (HESTA) posed the questions because teachers had fundamental concerns about what the district is doing with its money, said Steve Kain, lead negotiator for the union and a seventh grade teacher at Marguerite Maze Middle School.
“Last June, the district had a balanced budget, but then they raised (Superintendent Judy) Barranti’s salary and that of the confidential employees,” he said. “Now they come to us and say we have this hole and are facing mid-year budget cuts.”
Management and confidential employee raises – which include the superintendent and the vice superintendent – were given over summer break and make up about one fifth of the $800,000 deficit.
Hundreds of teachers packed the December meeting to voice their complaints about what would happen if the district decided to make cuts to teachers or classified employees such as librarians and teaching assistants. No decision was made, but board trustees promised to once again discuss the matter at the next meeting, when they could approve the cuts.
Despite the hot tempers and angry voices demanding answers, the study session was productive because it brought administrators and teachers together to work on solutions for the future of the district, said Margie Barrios, member of the school board.
“We are not happy to make budget cuts, but at least they (teachers) were present to witness the process,” she said.
Unifying with the San Benito High School District as well creating a parcel tax – two ideas proposed at the study session – are possibilities, although they are not a short-term solutions, Barrios said. The process could take up to five years and would have to go before voters and ultimately be approved by the state department of education before becoming reality. The trustees are in the process of gathering information about the two proposals, including talking to other school districts about their experience with a parcel tax, said Barrios.
HESTA supports unification as a way to free up funds for teacher salaries and classroom materials.
“There would be no redundancy in costs,” said Kain, the HESTA negotiator. “You wouldn’t need two financial directors, two superintendents and so on.”
Another concern teachers had at the study session was whether the removal of 15 kindergarten teachers and the hiring of 21 aides this school year was a cost-saving measure. Schools in California now have the option to exceed the 20 to 1 ratio if they have instructional aides present and the subjects being taught are not math or language development.
The district showed the move, also known as Option B, saved them close to $500,000, but crowded classrooms for courses such as art, music and sports.
Attendance was also up by nearly two percent, and because schools are paid per student, that meant extra money for the district, although it was not figured into the budget.
“Yes, we had an increase in attendance, but it was offset by a decline in enrollment,” said Judy Barranti, superintendent of the Hollister School District. She also said she had no idea where cuts would be made because the decision is entirely in the hands of the board. One possibility is using the reserve money, but the solution would be “scraping the bottom of the barrel,” said Barranti. The district has approximately $4.3 million in reserve accounts.
The school district is scheduled to meet on Jan. 25 when it will formally respond to the questions raised by HESTA and discuss making cuts to the budget.
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or [email protected]
