Walnut Valley Schools Bracing for Cuts

WALNUT, CA-- It has been a rewarding, busy and challenging school year.  As we continue to celebrate the successes of our students and schools, Walnut Valley Unified School Districtalso continues to face the challenges of the mounting State budget crisis.

The California legislature and Governor Schwarzenegger have finally reached an agreement. President Obama has signed the Economic Stimulus package.

The budget signed by the Governor on February 19 calls for cuts to public education funding by more than $8.6 billion for K-14 students throughout the State of California 

This means that Walnut Valley Schools are anticipating a $2,550,000 mid-year cut, effective immediately and a $12,320,000 cut for the 2009-2010 school year, according to Superintendent Dr. Cyndy Simms.  The District also faces a $23,850,000 cut for the 2010-2011 school year.

With the passage of the State budget, an updated plan to address these revenue changes to WVUSD will be presented to the Board of Trustees during a special Study Session on February 24.  

As we have waited, though, Walnut Valley has been planning for what we expect to be a number of challenging years for schools across the state.

Our District must make difficult financial decisions in response to the State's budget crisis. Because Walnut Valley has maintained a fiscally conservative budget for the past several years, we do have some reserves to help us weather this storm.

Walnut Valley will continue to take a conservative approach to expenditures. Several months ago, Walnut Valley implemented a freeze on purchases of non-essential materials and equipment, conference travel, and a "hiring chill", with only critical vacancies being filled.

But that won't be enough. There will be reductions to programs and people.

"Walnut Valley is making very difficult decisions to address this challenge," said Dr. Simms.

"We will be issuing Reduction in Force (RIF) notices, but as of today, we don't have an exact number," Dr. Simms added.  The Education Code specifies that we must send out notices by March 15 (this year by March 13). 

Jack LeBrun, our Assistant Superintendent of Business Services has been working with his Budget Advisory Committee including certificated (WVEA) and classified (CSEA) Association leaders, district administrators, principals, parents, and community members to consider reductions required to address the reduced State revenues to our school district.

This committee has been thoughtfully researching strategies to try to keep cuts away from the classroom. The State budget reductions are too substantial to be resolved without increasing class sizes and scaling back programs and services that contribute to Walnut Valley's outstanding schools.

Our Board of Trustees, School Leaders, and Budget Advisory Committee including our Association leadership are a collective group of caring people devoted to Walnut Valleystudents and staff, who are now forced to make heart-wrenching decisions.

 "While we are facing great challenges, we are also blessed with talented people committed to Walnut Valley students.  Like our nation, we will face these hurdles head on and conquer them with commitment, out-of-the-box thinking, and dedication to our students, staff and community," Dr. Simms said.

The Walnut Valley Unified School District (WVUSD) serves 15,022 students with 705 certificated (teaching) and 575 classified (non-teaching) staff members.