News - Local

Tuesday, Jun. 09, 2009

Wealthier school districts like SL Coastal, Cayucos and Cambria may face state cuts

San Luis Coastal, Cayucos Elementary and Coast Union are among those that could take a hit as lawmakers try to balance the budget

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Officials in the school districts of San Luis Coastal, Cayucos Elementary and Coast Union in Cambria worry that they are no longer as safe from the ravages of the state budget as they once hoped.

As legislators and budget specialists in Sacramento are looking for sources of money to balance the state budget, the wealthier school districts in the state, with higher property tax revenues, have garnered unwanted attention.

This week, it is possible that new language describing the funding of such districts will be put forth by a legislative committee working on state budget solutions.

The expected changes mean that the 100 such “basic aid” districts in the state such as San Luis Coastal, Cayucos Elementary and Coast Union may have to make do with less. The concern is how much less.

“We realize we are going to have to take a hit,” Coast Union Superintendent Chris Adams said. “I’m not saying that isn’t fair. The state of California is broke.”

But he joins officials in the other two districts in hoping that the state limits any takeaways to the money it actually provides the districts for special programs, like lowering class size, helping English learners and purchasing textbooks. What they don’t want is the state skimming off local property taxes.

“We want it to come from the money the state actually gives us, not from our property taxes,” Adams said.

The three districts have weathered some of the current economic storms better than the other seven districts in the county that are “revenue-limit.”

Such districts, like Lucia Mar in the South County and Paso Robles in the north, rely upon a combination of property taxes and backfill from state funds to reach a certain limit.

State cuts to the other districts have led to teacher layoff announcements and program reductions. But San Luis Coastal has, to date, been able to avoid layoffs of permanent staff and even granted 3 percent pay raises this year if property tax rolls increase. Coast Union and Cayucos Elementary are better off, too, than many districts their size. The three districts together serve approximately 7,700 of the 34,800 kindergarten-through-12th grade students in the county.

Cayucos Superintendent George Erdelyi said what is alarming is the quick turnaround for what could happen if dramatic cuts are made. The state Education Code bars “basic aid” districts from making August layoffs, a budget-balancing option for other districts.

“If they were to take away basic aid, we would have to cut art, drama, athletics, all the things that make us really a school, and it still might not be enough,” Erdelyi said.

Erdelyi said Cayucos has been spending down its reserves to get two building projects completed that were supported by the town’s voters. He said the district agreed to do so because it was asking the community to pass the costly bond measures.

Russell Miller, assistant superintendent for finance at San Luis Coastal, said the state cannot justify taking local property taxes, but he too believes there could be sharp cuts in categorical programs.

“What are they going to do to us — to be honest, that hasn’t been answered yet,” Miller said. “What they are talking about is imposing a fair share of pain.”

But Miller said he really hopes fairness is emphasized. All school districts saw a 15 percent cut in categorical programs in February, but he said non-basic aid districts have received some additional help from federal stimulus money.

“The whole concept is fair share. What’s fair, we might have arguments about,” he said.