Continued declining enrollments, student absenteeism, rising
costs and less money from the state government have forced
Hollister School District officials to make the tough decision of
possibly laying off dozens of teachers and administrators as they
grapple with the district’s floundering finances.
Hollister – Continued declining enrollments, student absenteeism, rising costs and less money from the state government have forced Hollister School District officials to make the tough decision of possibly laying off dozens of teachers and administrators as they grapple with the district’s floundering finances.
The money problems currently plaguing the district, however, didn’t appear overnight. In fact, they’re partly rooted in Hollister’s explosive population growth in the 1990s. During the city’s building boom when the local population grew by approximately 55 percent over a decade, district board members anticipated their student population would continue to grow with the city and county, said Board President Margie Barrios.
But, she said, the 2002 a sewer spill that resulted in a building moratorium slammed the brakes on the construction of new homes in the area and all but stopped the increase in enrollment the school district was counting on.
“Because we had had increasing enrollment we thought we could base our budget on history, which were realistic figures,” Barrios said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get what we thought with (new) students.”
In the 2002-03 enrollment in the district ceased its increase and began to level off; enrollment began decreasing by about a half percent to 1 percent in 2003-04, Barrios said.
“Unless something changes drastically, we continue to expect that level of decline in enrollment,” she said.
Likewise, declining enrollments and students being absent from class are more major causes of the district’s current financial woes, Barrios said.
The district receives about $26 per student for each day the 6,000 students in the district are in class, Slater said. On any given day about 5 percent, or 300 of the district’s students, are absent, costing the district about $39,000 per week.
“It hurts the bottom line. And it hurts the academic program for students,” Barranti said.
In addition to these local budget busters, educators across California were expecting more than $2 billion in state money that they will not be receiving, according to the California Teachers Association.
And soaring costs for benefits provide another reason why the district’s financial situation seems dim. This year, administrators expect health insurance premiums to rise approximately 35 percent. Currently, about 88 percent of the district’s budget is allocated to employee salaries and benefits.
“At some point they have to bring that 88 percent to 80 percent,” Slater said. “That is a structural imbalance and has to be corrected.”
In addition to the impending lay-offs, Slater said the district may have to freeze employee salaries for several years. Also, the district is looking into finding a new insurance carrier with lower rates, he said.
In March the district filed a qualified report, which stated that, with cuts, the district had enough money in its reserves to pay its bills for the next two years.
Earlier cuts to fine arts programs and other expenditures such as district-provided cell phones and conferences was not enough to shore up the district’s nearly $40 million budget. This year as many as 41 teachers and 10 administrators are facing lay-offs. Final decisions on which teachers and administrators will be dismissed will be made by May 15.
This most recent round of budget hacking follows $2 million worth of cuts the district made last summer and another $1.1 million worth of reserve transfers made this year to balance the district’s current budget.
“We’re in dire straights in terms of making corrections to the budget,” Hollister School District Superintendent Judith Barranti said. “Teachers and administrators, that’s all that’s left to cut. There’s not too many places to go to the well and draw”
Interim Chief Business Officer Michael R. Slater describes the districts financial situation as “precarious.”
“This district dropped off a cliff at the state level, and at the local level with the ADA (Average Daily Attendance) decline,” Slater said. “They did reductions. The downward spiral in funding was faster than the reductions.”
The financial future of San Benito County’s largest school district is unclear.
“There are still a lot of if’s. We’re going to go back and look at other things,” Slater said, but declined to comment on other possible solutions.
“We’re starting to run out of possibilities,” he said.
Luke Roney covers education and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at lr****@fr***********.com
