November 16, 2009
Dear Community:
As a result of the State fiscal crisis, dramatic slowing of local property tax growth, and anticipated enrollment growth, the Palo Alto School District must address anticipated budget deficits over the next several years. In 2010-11, the district will lose $4.4 million in state revenue, along with a $3 million loss in anticipated property tax growth. Efforts taken this year to control costs have resulted in savings of approximately $1.7 million—leaving a projected deficit of $5.7 million for the next school year.
We recently began conversations within our school communities to gather input on possible ways to generate the savings we will need to balance our budget. One goal of this conversation is to inform stakeholders in our community about our budget challenges and to provide an opportunity for broad-ranging input. The Superintendent’s Cabinet will synthesize the material from the various stakeholder groups and make recommendation to the School Board regarding budget decisions.
At a meeting in October, the PAUSD School Board adopted these values to guide the budget balancing process:
- Maintain academic excellence
- Avoiding layoffs is a high priority
- Transparency and openness about our challenge
- Continued support and fidelity to the district’s Strategic Plan
- Participation by all stakeholder groups
- Understanding of and dedication to what works educationally
- Optimism about ability to solve problems
- Long term fiscal health – no gimmicks
- Staffing levels that sustain program quality as we grow
The District has already taken steps to produce budget savings by implementing a soft hiring freeze, reducing legal costs, and closing some pools during the winter months to save on energy costs.
If you have ideas that might help us in our task of balancing the budget in 2010-11, we invite you to share them with us by sending your ideas to balancedbudget@pausd.org
Thank you for your interest in and ongoing support of the District,
Kevin Skelly,
Superintendent
|