On Thursday, June 10, 2022 the SDUHSD held a regularly scheduled Board Meeting at the San Dieguito Academy High School.
Budget
Interim Superintendent Tina Douglas presented a draft budget for board discussion. A final district budget will be discussed and adopted at our next Board Meeting on June 23.
The San Diego County Treasurer’s office provided the District with an updated estimate of expected property tax revenue, and it is a substantial increase from prior estimates. In addition, the State of California has updated its budget and provided estimates of the amount of funding allocated for public schools.
As a brief reminder of school funding, each year the State determines the amount of funding deemed appropriate for each school district using what is called the local control funding formula, or LCFF. If the local property taxes are insufficient to provide the school district this level of funding, the state grants money to make up for the difference.
If local property taxes exceed the LCFF calculated revenue target, the school district won’t receive any LCFF funding from the state, but they also will not have to give the state the excess. The local property taxes then form the primary funding for the school district. These districts are known as “basic aid” or “community-funded” districts.
Recently SDUHSD’s revenue from local property taxes has been right near the LCFF calculation cut off. Last year property taxes slightly exceeded the LCFF formula, so we did not receive general-fund money from the State.
With the state dramatically increasing the LCFF formula and budget, SDUHSD will receive a small supplement from the state for this coming school year.
The bottom line is an improved revenue projection for our school district. ISI Douglas estimates that when compared to our previous estimates from a couple of months ago, we are now estimating increased revenues of $4 million for the 2022/23 school year, $5 million for 23/24, and $7 million for 24/25. On a total revenue of approximately $175 million, this represents an increase of 2-4% compared to prior estimates.
This additional revenue will obviously help our financial situation, but we are not out of the woods. Even with this additional revenue we are forecasting a financial loss of about $5 million for the coming school year, and our financial reserves remain well below board targets.
How should the Board allocate this additional expected revenue? We can think of this revenue ending up in one of three broad categories. 1) We can spend some on deferred maintenance, 2) we can spend some on other new or expanded operating expenses, or 3) we can save some to reduce our budget deficit.
Deferred Maintenance
Prior district boards failed to adequately fund the maintenance of our property and equipment, and consequently we have built up a “deferred maintenance liability” that we need to address.
For the last few years, we have been budgeting about $250,000 per year for maintenance. ISI Douglas estimates that we would need to spend as much as $5 million per year to keep up with all of our maintenance needs, but she also readily admits that we cannot currently afford that level of spending.
During the meeting, I proposed that we increase our maintenance funding from $250,000 to $1 million per year. After some discussion, the board reached a consensus that we should plan on spending at least that amount if not more, and we instructed ISI Douglas to include $1 million in the next round of budgeting. During a break in the meeting, there was an offline conversation between two members of our board and some interested parties in the audience. I believe this side conversation will lead to some additional discussion on this topic at our June 23rd Board meeting. We will wait to see….
Additional Spending
The board also discussed increasing the number of counselors at our high schools by one at each of our four large high schools, primarily to assist with the mental health needs of our students. The Board reached a consensus to have ISI Douglas add this to the working budget, at an incremental cost of approximately $600,000.
One other investment that I would like to support is improving our college preparation assistance. As we know from this year’s college admissions process, obtaining entrance into colleges continues to become more and more difficult. However, individual families and students frequently improve their college selection chances with the assistance of outside service providers, often at personal expense. Board President Muir and I agree that improving college readiness and college acceptance rates is an important objective of our district, and something we should invest in for the benefit of ALL students who want to continue their formal education after high school.
Under a pilot program this year, the District worked with The Kaplan Group, and parent and student feedback was very positive. Greg Kaplan, a Torrey Pines graduate, will be proposing an expanded program next year that will take us to the next level. I believe that we can create a world-class college preparation program for less than $1 million per year, and I look forward to hearing from the Kaplan Group at future Board meetings.
Reducing our Budget Deficit
These above spending increases total about $2.35 million. This level of spending would still allow us to contribute as much as $2 million dollars of the estimated revenue increase towards reducing our annual operating deficit for this coming school year. Although we will not be “in the black” and will still have an operating deficit, we will at least improve our financial situation.
Student Safety
In the light of recent tragic events across our country, Trustee Young brought forward a resolution that restates the District’s commitment to the safety of all who are on our campuses. Safety has been, and will remain, at the top of the District’s list of priorities. Each school site has a complete site-based threat assessment team that includes a school administrator, school
psychologist, school counselor and/or school social worker. Depending on the jurisdiction, San Diego Sheriff, Carlsbad Police Department or San Diego Police Department assist those teams. These teams regularly review the plan, refresh and retrain.
No specific action steps were proposed in the resolution, which passed unanimously.
Associate Superintendent of HR
Congratulations to Mary Anne Nuskin, currently our Principal of Pacific Trails Middle School, on her promotion to Associate Superintendent. I am confident she will bring her demonstrated level of professionalism, enthusiasm, and dedication to her new position. I look forward to working with her.
The Employment Status of Dr. Ward
Many remain interested in the employment status of Dr. Ward.
The Board met in closed session at both the beginning and end of the Board meeting, and no action was taken regarding the employment status of Dr. Ward. She remains on paid administrative leave and will remain in this status until a majority of the Board votes to change that status.