Slim school budget Slim school budget (December 26, 2003)

Donations help MV-Whisman, but expenses and uncertain state funding cloud estimate

By Julie O'Shea

Three months into the school year, Mountain View-Whisman district officials have recalculated their budget and discovered they have almost $1.5 million more to work with than what was projected in June.

However, expenditures jumped by $2.2 million, as the district shells out extra cash to pay for, among other things, counseling services, art and music programs, staff salaries and more books and supplies. Surprisingly, employee benefit costs went down $430,000.

The additional revenue now reflected in the elementary-and-middle school district's $30.9 million operating budget is coming from funds funneled through the Mountain View Educational Foundation, the Silicon Valley New Teachers Project, the Neighborhood Liaison Program and other local and state restricted funding, which means the money can only be used for certain things.

Donation promises from these organizations were made at the end of last year, but finance chief Rebecca Wright said she didn't want to include them in her budget projection until she was absolutely certain that the money was going to come through.

In June, Wright presented the school board with a slim $29.4 million budget, a $2.5 million decrease from the $32 million budget of the 2002-2003 school year.

Mountain View-Whisman began the new fiscal year with $3,064,271, an increase of $1.3 million from what Wright calculated in June. The district has a healthy reserve fund of $996,773, about $21,000 more than the 3 percent required by law.

"A little sneeze and that will all go away, especially if it's a special education sneeze," Wright told the school board Dec. 18, its last regular meeting of 2003.

"My crystal ball is very muddy," Wright said as she moved on to talk about the grim multi-year budget projects.

"As you know, this is a very difficult process, especially with all the uncertainty in Sacramento," Wright said. "These assumptions are simply that. I just want to stress there are many unknowns."

For instance, Wright said, rents and county birth rates will play a key factor in determining how many students will enroll in the Mountain View public education system in the years to come. Attendance rates are important in determining how much money will come from the state. If, for example, birth rates go down and rents go up, one might conclude there will be fewer children in the city's schools.

The state has made some projections about cost of living adjustments for the next three school years, which at first glance look like a steady increase of 1.86 percent for this year up to 2.3 percent for the 2005-2006 school year. But with the state deficit the way it is, Wright said, the district will likely be losing money on the cost of living adjustment in the long run.

"So everything they are giving us, they are taking away," Wright said. "I'm writing this budget in invisible ink."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will present his budget proposal in early January, and Wright hopes to get a better sense of the district's fiscal future at that time.

"We are on target for this year, but we have some challenges (ahead)," Superintendent Jim Negri said.

In June, Wright projected the district will have a budget of $28.6 million next year. For the 2005-2006 school year, Wright anticipates the budget will be about $29.2 million.

The district is going out to the voters for a $1.6 million parcel tax -- Measure J -- this March to help combat any cuts the state may throw its way in the coming years. School officials have already begun exploring the possibility of a school closure, a move that could save the district about $300,000.
@email:E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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