For the first time in its history, the Mariposa County Unified School District will file a negative budget certification with the state. What that means is that the district is unable to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the current year or for the subsequent school year.

Acting Superintendent Aaron Rosander gave the board of trustees and staff the grim news at the board’s regular meeting on March 18. He also issued an apology to all those facing layoffs. “We’re so sorry,” he said. “We are a family. When we are going through the current circumstance, it hurts really bad. It’s not just tragic on a professional level.”

He did note, however, the budget the board had to consider was the first of its kind in two years, calling it “laser sharp” under Business Director Linda Levesque’s development. “You can take these numbers to the bank,” Rosander said.

Still, the news isn’t good, and Rosander knows the road ahead will be tough.”Unless we find a way to battle this as a family, the state surely will come in,” he said. “There’s nobody coming to save us. We will save ourselves.”

Rosander said the changes in the district will come quickly and will be lasting. “As we go down the road, our district will never look the same,” Rosander said. “But we are all committed to making this work.”

Levesque gave a detailed report of the district’s second interim budget report, outlining the pieces that are hacking into the general fund. For example, the district is out some $926,000 in costs for special education, which the federal government mandates, but does not fund. She also noted that the cafeteria fund has been running in the red for years, and received a $100,000 loan from developer fees in the last year. She called that “very questionable” and said she will immediately begin looking into options.

The district’s ending fund balance has yo-yoed for the past several years, mostly because of differences in state funding. For next school year, Levesque said there will not be enough revenue to cover expenses. By 2011-12, the district will start with a negative beginning fund balance.

“We may have a challenge,” she said about meeting the district’s obligations this spring. She said she has already been in contact with the County’s treasurer to look into a loan. “We are going to have a tough time,” she said. “We have a good plan of action.” Levesque said the district is at the point where the state can tell it what to do, and avoiding a take over should be top priority. “It only adds to everyone’s detriment,” she said.

Levesque explained that a state takeover removes all local control in terms of finances and negotiations. Often, she said, the budget gaps are filled by closing schools. “We don’t want that. If we do it ouselves, it’s a much more progressive action.”

Board member Joe Cardoso stated the obvious. “We could lose everything,” he said.

Mariposa County Unified is certainly not alone in this budget mess. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell issued a press release on Monday that shows a dramatic rise in the number of school district’s on the state’s early warning list. There is a 17 percent increase in that number this year.

The “warning list” comes from the interim budget reports that districts file with the state, such as the one Levesque presented to the board last week. She said she is already in contact with the state to stay ahead of the curve. “CDE said we’re already moving in the right direction,” Levesque explained.

“Massive state budget cuts are crippling our public school system’s ability to operate,” O’Connell said. “Public education in California receive $17 billion less in state funding than anticipated over the last two budget years.”

At least 23,000 teachers and other certificated school staff in California have now received preliminary layoff notices for the coming school year. Sixteen of those are in Mariposa County. Another 16,000 teacher lost their jobs last year, along with 10,000 classified school employees.

Joining Mariposa County on the list are three Tuolumne County Districts including Big Oak Flat Unified and Summerville Union High School Districts.

The bottom line for Mariposa County Unified is a $1.4 million shortfall. “Now the work begins,” Rosander told the board. “How do we close that gap? It really puts us in a fix. We need to get solvent.”

Rosander said the budget mess is a “black hole” that is very difficult to get out of and added that it will take local ingenuity to change that. “This is our situation to solve. I ask all of us to work together to salvage our district.”

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