The Mariposa County Unified School District Board of Trustees will get an update on the construction project at Lake Don Pedro Elementary School and will consider approval of its first interim financial report at its regular meeting set for Dec. 17. The items are part of a full agenda for the last meeting of the calendar year.

The financial picture is not a pretty one, again, for the local school district. The interim financial report shows the district will be some $1.7 million short this year alone.

The first interim report is considered a guiding document for the district as it begins planning for the remainder of this school year and the coming two years. The document is to be submitted as “qualified,” which means the district may not be able to meet its financial obligations in the current and next two fiscal years.

The district can certify the report as “pos itive,” which means current and coming year obligations will be met; qualified, or “negative,” which means the district would not be able to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the current school year and the next fiscal year.

Some of the indicators contributing to the qualified status include the fact that the district will end this year with a negative cash balance, has decreasing enrollment and has “uncapped” employee health benefits. The district has also not settled contracts with its employee groups for last year and the current year, according to the document.

Director of Business Services Linda Levesque indicates in her report to the board that declining enrollment and changes in revenue limit funding will continue to hurt the district. It also shows the district does not have “available reserves” to meet the minimum requirements for the current and next two years.

The board must also vote on a resolution that eliminates two classified positions. Because of “lack of funds to maintain certain support services” the positions must be eliminated, according to the board item.

The resolution eliminates a full-time mechanic and a part-time bus driver/garage helper in the transportation department. The positions will be reduced as of Jan. 31, 2010.

Because Director of Maintenance, Transportation and Operations Bob Morse foresaw this issue during the budget cutting process, he planned to deal with it. There are a number of vacant positions that the affected employees could fill. “Nobody’s leaving the district,” Morse said. “They will have an oppotunity for employment, it just may not be the employment they wanted.”