CUSD adopts $524m budget, leaves $3m surplus to brace for state budget

Print

After cuts and freezes, Clovis Unified School District's Governing Board approved a $524 million budget June 18 with a $3.2 million surplus in its General Fund.

The $294 million General Fund covers costs such as teacher salaries and curriculum.

District officials are reserving the $3.2 million surplus because of the state's rocky financial climate. In January, Gov. Schwarzenegger threatened to cut $4 billion from school funding in his 2008-09 proposed budget. His May revised budget proposal restored some of that money, but many programs are still bracing for cuts. The state Legislature must approve a final budget by July 1, the start of the fiscal year. They are historically late, however, so the district doesn't expect to OK a final budget until September.

For now, board members approved a budget with a surplus.

"We're reserving money until the adoption of the state budget," said Michael Johnston, assistant superintendent of business services. "The uncertainty of where the state budget will go is a concern right now."

The budget also includes $8.7 million in cuts such as trimmed expenses and frozen positions.

"A lot of them are vacant," district spokeswoman Kelly Avant has said previously. "There won't be any layoffs."

Many of the positions are vacant because the Governing Board approved an early retirement program in the spring. More than 150 employees retired at the end of the year and received severance pay. Last year, fewer than 50 employees retired.

The district saved money from the retirements because many of the positions were frozen or filled with less-tenured, therefore less-paid, employees.

The district restored a few of the frozen positions in the recently approved budget because of the extra funding in the governor's May Revise. The governor proposed to increase education funding by more than $193 million from the previous year.

The Budget Standards Committee -- which pens the district's budget -- pumped $850,000 back into the budget for operations and teacher positions. Every year the committee, which is made up of teachers, administrators and staff, creates a budget for the Governing Board's approval.

E-mail Gabriel Alexander at galexander@clovisindependent.com.