Pomona Unified officials pass budget, prepare for major cuts next year

POMONA - Federal funds played a part in allowing leaders of the Pomona Unified School District to adopt a budget this week that averted sweeping cuts for the coming school year.

School district officials unanimously approved a $372.5 million budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year beginning July 1.

The budget's $150.5 million unrestricted general fund is about $203,000 leaner than the current year's budget.

After two years of making cuts to adapt to the loss of state funding totaling about $23.7 million, the district was able to avoid deep cuts in the 2009-2010 budget with the help of $23 million in federal stimulus funds.

"Essentially, we have been fortunate enough to delay the inevitable," said School Board member Steve Lustro on Friday.

With the state government showing signs it won't be able to resolve its financial difficulties, district officials are preparing for what will be painful cuts in the 2010-11 budget, some school board members said.

In keeping with priorities set by the school board, areas such as class size reduction at the kindergarten, first grade, second grade and ninth grade levels went untouched, said Pam Lopez, district assistant superintendent of business services and chief financial officer.

Also spared were athletic programs and health services, she said.

To cut expenses, departments reduced budgets and, in some areas, teachers lost three staff development days, said Leslie Barnes, the district's business manager.

The district cut funds for deferred maintenance and is saving some money by cutting back on busing.

In some cases, drops in enrollment have made it possible for students to attend their neighborhood schools, eliminating the need to provide transportation to other district schools, district finance personnel said.

Other cuts were the result of management salary reductions in the forms of cuts in paid staff development days.

Lopez said 12 administrators were cut as were a handful of classified employees.

"We have a hiring freeze with very few exceptions and we're scrutinizing everything. We're not spending any money we don't have to," Lopez said.

Because the state relaxed some rules in the use of money allocated for certain programs, the district will be able to keep some programs but on a smaller scale, such as counseling services, Barnes said.

The district used just about all of the $23 million it received in federal government stimulus money, Barnes said.

To use that money, some classroom teacher assignments were adjusted.

"It saves jobs, but also provides additional support" for students, Barnes said.

When school begins in the fall, returning students and their parents will see few changes compared to the school year that just ended, Barnes said.

"There won't be major changes from their point of view," Lopez said.

Considerable work will have to take place to develop next years budget and that will require a great deal of dialog with the districts labor groups, Lopez said.

School Board president Andrew Wong said the federal dollars allowed the district to avoid cutting teachers.

Board members are committed to keeping any cuts from affecting classrooms, but the district will have to consider all possible reduction options next year, Wong said.

"It's a serious amount we're going to have to cut," Wong said. "It's going to seriously affect us."

He added: "We are going to have some very serious choices" to make.

Unless school districts get some financial assistance from the federal government, next year cuts will have to be made, Lustro said.

"We're going to be looking at a lot of layoffs, there is not two ways about it, he said.

Lustro said he's frustrated with state leaders who can't solve their budget problems and turn to schools and local government funds to come up with temporary fixes to their problems.

"It's not fair when the local agencies are trying to balance their budgets," he said.