Despite revised budget, SR schools still face tough cuts

The Santa Rosa School District got a potential budgetary reprieve from Sacramento on Wednesday, but board members still face cutting approximately $2.3 million from the 2008-09 budget.

In the first public discussion of the district's two-year plan that includes cutting $6.2 million from its 2009-10 budget, the board Wednesday night directed staff to move ahead with cuts that would save more than $2 million from next year's budget.

Those reductions include cutting teachers from Ridgway High School and eliminating office staff at middle schools.

More than 100 parents, teachers and students attended the special meeting at Santa Rosa City Hall to plead for specific programs and schools.

After hearing from high school principals, the board voted to maintain two assistant principals at each high school.

"Losing one assistant principal puts our schools at risk," Santa Rosa High School principal Jim Goddard said. "This greatly hampers our ability to create a safe campus."

The board also voted to keep in place nearly $90,000 in funding for classroom supplies, telephone expenses and office materials at both elementary and secondary campuses.

"We would have to start the new year without facial tissue or toilet paper," said Steele Lane School Principal Barry Kelly, speaking for all 12 elementary school principals.

Among other cutbacks that were rejected: $20,000 in total cuts to Santa Rosa High's ArtQuest, the district agriculture program, Montgomery High's International Baccalaureate program, Elsie Allen's University Center program and Piner High's college magnet program.

Approved cuts for next fall include: a 10 percent reduction in equipment maintenance contracts and repairs, eliminating two full-time teachers and one custodian from Ridgway High School, eliminating one full-time office staffer at all middle schools, increasing student loads to 500 per counselor and reducing the district's advertising budget by $78,000.

Wednesday's vote puts in motion the creation of the district's 2008-09 budget, but board members expressed concern that new proposals from Sacramento could affect the final number of cuts.

"This is not the end of this process," board president Jim Leddy said.

The district expects to adopt a final budget in June.

Dan Evans, president of the district's teachers union, asked the board to back off from proposed cuts, saying there is too much new information coming from the state to make any recommendations about next year's budget.

"We have a different situation today," he said. "I know we are not out of the woods, and we need to make cuts, but the cuts may not have to be as deep as we thought last week."

The vast majority of public comment was about the potential closure or reconfiguration of Doyle Park Elementary in central Santa Rosa and Comstock Middle School on West Steele Lane in 2009.

Both Comstock and Doyle Park have suffered declining enrollment and have emerged as potential targets of money-saving measures. Annual operating costs range from $100,000 to $500,000 at elementary schools and $800,000 to $900,000 at middle schools, according to district staff.

While Leddy expressed reluctance to talk about specific schools, other board members said plans should be put in motion now to reinvigorate at-risk campuses before real decisions have to be made.

"It's now a wakeup call to those schools because this issue is not going to go away," said board member Frank Pugh.

Pugh also dissuaded the public from thinking education funding is out of trouble simply because of the revamped numbers from Sacramento.

"It looks better than it was, but there is a trust issue with the governor," he said. "The governor has not had a good track record in honoring commitments."

The board is scheduled to meet again on the budget May 28.

Also Wednesday, hundreds of local teachers stood under the blazing sun amid bunches of pink and white balloons in Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square to demand more money for education in California.

"We have to put kids first, they are most important, they are our future," said April Nichols, a kindergarten teacher at Jack London School in Santa Rosa.

The rally marked Day of the Teacher, but coincided with Gov. Arnold Schwarz-enegger's release of his revised state budget proposal.

Despite a looming $17 billion deficit, Schwarzenegger's latest numbers are markedly brighter for education than his January proposal.

The governor now proposes to cut deeper into the state's health and social service programs. And teachers expressed frustration that a reprieve for education might come at the expense of social service spending.

"To me, that is just as bad as going into education," said Jon Western, math department chairman at Maria Carrillo High School in Santa Rosa. "I don't want to see it hit people at the bottom."You can reach Staff Writer Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@ pressdemocrat.com.