Budget FAQs

Please contact Lori Ordway-Peck, Interim Deputy Superintendent at LoriOrdway-Peck@burbankusd.org

The list of potential budget cuts will be provided to the Board of Education with rankings at the end of next week.  At this time we are trying to set up a special board meeting at which time they will deliberate about the cuts that will be enacted.

Furlough days for all employee groups are options on the potential budget cut list.

A school district the size of Burbank Unified is required to maintain a 3% reserve in its fund balance and that amount must be made up of unrestricted funding.  If we cannot maintain that amount of reserve, we are in trouble fiscally and under several laws (AB 1200 and AB 2756) we are subject to directives by first the County Office of Education and then the State of California to take action to get our reserve back to that 3% minimum level.  In other words, this 3% amount is not meant to be used to solve financial problems during a crisis.

In order to have any reserve set aside that can be truly used in difficult times, the Board must set aside dollars in addition to this 3% level.  The Burbank Board of Education ste a goal to maintain a 6% reserve two years ago in order to have a fund balance that can be used during difficult times.  That additional 3% will help to minimize the cuts necessary to get us through the next several years.  Without it, we would have had to made additional cuts.

A temporary change in the law allows us to draw down the 3% mandatory reserve to 1.5% for a short period of time.  However, that funding must immediately be restored to 3% once the temporary period has expired.  In difficult budget times, restoration of this amount would result in one more budget cuts that must be made in the near future, and the Board has stated that they do not intend to lower the reserve below 3%.

The Board has asked administration to provide a document that reflects input from the budget committee and administration.  This document lists a number of possible cuts that could be made to lessen expenditures.

That listing will be ranked by each member of the budget committee, by each administrator, and then by the Superintendent.  With all of those pieces in front of them, the Board will then take action as it considers the input and ranking of all of these groups.

The current list does contain reductions to administrative positions, as well as other budget cuts.

A reduction to salary is negotiable when it affects bargaining unit positions.  So, salaries cannot be reduced without agreement of the associations for their members.

Management salaries can be reduced without negotiation by simple action of the Board of Education.

The Burbank Unified School District has two associations.  These are the Burbank Teachers Association (BTA) and the local chapter of the Classified School Employees Association (CSEA).  If one or both assocations agreed to a decrease in salaries, that savings could be used to save some jobs.  A salary reduction could be temporary or long term, based on the negotiated agreement that is entered into.

Principals determine the particular kinds of service to reduce or eliminate based on their staff allocations.  Principals do not determine who receives the actual layoff notices.  This is a function of Human Resources Services after careful consideration of a teacher's placement on the seniority list, type of credential, and tie-breaking criteria if they have the same seniority date as another teacher.  Based on these criteria, a teacher with greater seniority may "bump" another teacher who is less senior even if the position is at a different school site.

Yes, the Board is considering the option of a parcel tax election.  Local parcel tax revenue may be used for virtually any designated purpose.  This is a tax on real estate parcels, not on the value of the parcels, and it must be approved by 2/3 of the voters.  A parcel tax must also be renewed every few years in order for the assessment to continue.

While a parcel tax ix one helpful tool to address ongoing severe budget deficits, it must be understood that no parcel tax can completely fix the kind of budget crisis in which public education now finds itself.  Parcel taxes are often used to address preservation of particular programs such as arts, music, athletics, and libraries.

The Board is currently considering options to work with a consulting firm or firms to assist with developing a strategy to evaluate the possibility of a successful parcel tax election next year.

The certificated seniority list was distributed to principals and supervisors, as well as the Burbank Teachers Association, on Monday, March 7, 2010.

Textbook funds were made a part of the "Tier 3" categorical funds by the State during this financial crisis.  This allows the textbook funds to be used as unrestricted money to help offset reductions in revenue limit funding.

The District has swept textbook funds into the unrestricted general fund for use with all the other Tier 3 funds that were swept.  The budget projections include the use of this funding for unrestricted purposes already. 

The Distrist is not holding these funds aside for future textbook adoptions.

Yes, the District will operate a limited summer school program this year along with an extended year program for special education students, grades 1-12.  The District's general education summer school will be for high school students only and only for credit recovery.  We will use our normal process to hire our own District staff for the necessary positions to operate these programs.  Typically we do not use substitute teachers unless we cannot find a District teacher to fill needed positions.

Other summer programs will be available to students on a fee basis through Marymount College, which will use our facilities to operate their programs.  Marymount is an independently operated program from the District and may or may not hire District staff for their classes.

The Board of Education has the option of transferring deferred maintenance funds before June 30 of this year into the general fund.  The Board will have to determie what amount, if any, it is comfortable diverting from the upkeep of the facilities as the las of the modernization projects are completed.

Deferred maintenance funds were originally intended to pay for large-ticket projects such as asphalt replacement or repair, fencing replacement or repair, roofing replacement or repair, carpeting replacement, heating and air conditioning replacement, painting and so on.

The Board has indicated a willingness to consider moving a portion of the deferred maintenance funds into the general fund to be used over the next three years to offset maintenance, custodial and facility expenses and therefore free up those funds to be used to reduce other cuts.  However, no final determination has been made as of this date.

While it is unlikely that the District would not use any substitute teachers next year, the amount of subsitute teachers we use as opposed to laid off teachers may be reduced.  Based on Education Code requirements, teachers who are laid off must be utilized as substitute teachers and have first rights to a substitute assignment.  However, the District will still need to utilize substitute teachers from our active substitute teacher list as well.

The Board of Education has asked administration to provide a document that reflects input from the budget committee and administration.  This document lists a number of possible cuts that could be made to lessen expenditures.

That listing will be ranked by each member of the budget committee, by each administrator, and then by the Superintendent.  With all of those pieces in front of them, the Board will then take action as it considers the input and ranking of all of these groups.

The current item for counseling proposes to cut one counselor from each secondary school from those that are being funded by the District and not by site funds.  If this reduction is approved by the Board, each middle school would lose one counselor and be left with one.  Each high school would lose one counselor from District funds and be left with four.

Education Code requires that my March 15 the District must notify any certificated bargaining unit members of the potential that they might be the subject of a layoff, even though the Board of Education will not take final action until the first week of May.  This forces the District to issue notices months before the final state budget is known, and try to guess at the number of layoffs which might be necessary to balance the District budget.  Because of the unknown, the District is conservative in its estimate of the cuts that might be necessary.  Any certificated bargaining unit member who is not given a preliminary notice by March 15, is guaranteed employment for the next fiscal year.

The District must adopt its budget by June 30 regardless of whether or not the State has adopted its budget by that time.  The County Office of Education must accept our budget based upon assumptions they feel are reasonable for the budget year and two future fiscal years.  If the State has not adopted its budget in a timely manner, the County Office of Education normally requires that we use the assumptions provided in the January Governor's budget proposal and the School Services of California Dartboard.  Using both of these sources, the District must reduce expenditures in order to remain solvent in the future as wel build the estimated 2010-11 budget and project the 2011-12 and 2012-13 budget years. 

Yes, additional funding would be required to be made available out of the District's general fund for the day-to-day operation as well as the start-up expenses associated with the creation of a Merit System.  The Board of Education would not be in control of the budget of the merit system.  The budget is set by the commissioners - an independent board appointed to run the merit system within the District.  These commissioners determime their own staffing, meeting schedule, training needs, supplies and so on, and submit their budget annually to be included with the District's general fund.

To the extent that there is no extra money in the general fund at this time, additional expenses that have not already been anticipated will result in additional budget cuts.

Yes, the audit report, published in January, confirmed that the ending fund balance for 2008-09 (last year) was $25,027,585.

This amount is made up of the following parts:

• about $253,000 is reserved to Stores (warehouse), revolving cash and prepaid expenditures; this cannot be spend on compensation.
• about $8.5 million was carry-over in restricted programs (page 29 of the audit shows the detail); this money can only be spent for these restricted programs.
• about $4.25 million is the designation for economic uncertainties as required by the State for our size school distict (3% of the total outgo of the fund).
• another $4.25 million is the designation for economic uncertainties set aside by the Board of Education (another 3%).
• about $6.8 million in undesignated fund balance that rolled into this year (2009-10) to help offset reductions in state funding.

The $25,027,585 that we ended 2008-09 with is now approximately $13,507,000 as we have continued to deficit spend in 2009-10.

The budget challenges the District is facing are not of our own making.  School districts up and down the state are facing similar challenges - some much, much worse than ours.  The national economy and high rate of unemployment, the state economy and high rate of unemployment and local economy and high rate of unemployment are all contributing to the general lace of funding necessary to maintain revenues at prior year levels for public schools throughout the State of California.

Until a healthier economy returns, all public services are fighting for their piece of a shrinking pie - public education, prisons, roads, subsidies for the poor, for the elderly, for the disabled, state parks, and so on.

While the problem is both a state and national issue, how that problem will be solved is a local one, and by June 30th, the Board of Education will be required to adopt a budget that shows solvency for 2010-2011 through 2012-2013 with no substantial good news on the horizon.

The Board of Education has asked administration to provide a document that reflects input from the Budget Committee and administration that lists a number of possible cuts that could be made to lessen expenditures.

That listing will be ranked by each member of the Budget Committee, by each administrator, and then by the Superintendent.  With all of those pieces in front of them, the Board will then take action as it considers the input and ranking of all of these groups.

A draft listing of possible cuts has been distributed, but it is not finalized.  Ideas for items not already on the list can be submitted to the Budget Committee members who are:

Bruce Osgood, Burbank High School	Sharon Cuseo, Jordan Middle School
Bobbie Kavanaugh, McKinley Elementary	Mary Hyman, CSEA
Laura Bauman, CSEA	Bob Shaw, BTA
Dana Ragle, BTA	Barbara Miller, PTA
Donna Martley, PTA

"Out of class" is a technical evaluation assigned to work that is outside the job description and of a higher classification.  It is not meant to designate an increase in work volume or being asked to do work that is in the job description but may not have been done in the past.

With the re-organization of the running of the District through June 30, work that was outside the job description of TWO classified supervisors was assigned to them.  This included work that was previously handled by the assistant superintendent of business who is not serving as the interim deputy superintendent.  Similarly, two bargaining unit members were also assigned work outside the job description to assist with this situation.  The plan was reviewed with the Board of Education in December.

The out of class pay is a 5% temporary increase while the additional work outside the job description and of a higher classification is assigned.  This temporary payment will case June 30 when responsibilities will once again revert to their original assignments.

No.  There is no plan to close any school next year.

As a place holder in the budget cuts identified for 2011-12, a school closure for a savings of $350,000 was identified.  No particular school was named, nor has any intent been expressed at this point by the Board of Education to move forward with that particular budget cut.

This idea remains on the potential cuts list for possible implementation in the future, but no school will be closed in 2010-2011.