ESCONDIDO
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Cutting librarians, assistant principals and work hours from the Escondido schools budget was agonizing. Putting them back in could prove nearly as difficult.
As Escondido Union School District trustees began contemplating how they might use any extra money that may emerge from a completed state budget, there was little consensus on what would come first.
It would take up to $5.6 million to restore the positions trimmed from the 2008-09 spending plan for the district's 17 elementary and five middle schools, according to an estimate presented to the board at a business meeting Wednesday night.
But no one expects the state to offer up nearly that much money, meaning the district at some point will have to decide what gets spared and what doesn't, just as it did when the cuts were originally imposed.
There were no immediate policy decisions facing the board, but some members offered a glimpse of their personal priorities.
“I've got assistant principals on top of my list,” said board President Zoe Carpenter. In April, the board eliminated a half or full assistant principal position at each of its middle schools.
Another board member, Joan Gardner, said she would prefer the district replenish $1 million “borrowed” from a reserve fund for health-insurance benefits paid to employees who retire before age 65. The money was used to fill a hole in a different reserve.
And board member Linda Woods, while eyeing librarians and smaller kindergarten class sizes as worthy targets for any windfall from Sacramento, said it was too early to choose.
“If someone asked me tonight, pick your number one, I couldn't do it,” Woods said. “We anguished over all of them.”
It's an academic question for now as districts across the state watch budget negotiations in Sacramento, which are hung up over tax proposals and potential raids on transportation and local government funds. The fiscal year started July 1.
But the Escondido board had differing views on when it should tackle the question of what to restore.
Some prefer to wait until the budget process, with no end in sight, plays out. Board member Marv Gilbert said, however, that the district will be better prepared if it sets its priorities in advance.
Superintendent Jennifer Walters said the board's lack of consensus shows just how hard the budget-trimming was in the first place. “The things we reduced weren't positions the school board felt comfortable cutting, but they were forced to,” she said.
If and when a time comes to rescind the cuts, the choices include:
Using $800,000 to $1.2 million to keep the teacher-pupil ratio in kindergarten classes at 1 to 20 all day instead of 1 to 30 for a portion of each day.
Rescinding a reduction in work hours of 11 to 12 days for most support staff, and seven days for managers. Cost: $912,000.
Restoring 16 custodian positions ($800,000), six middle-school counselors ($385,000) and four assistant principals ($408,000).
Restoring eight librarians at elementary schools. The budget now has eight other librarians splitting their time between two schools, with only Oak Hill spared from the cut. Cost: $428,000.
Jeff Ristine: (760) 737-7578; jeff.ristine@uniontrib.com
