The two employees unions of the Mariposa County Unified School District have stepped up in a big way to help the district bridge a more than $1 million budget gap. Both groups ratified agreements in recent days that cuts the school year by five days, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The MCUSD Board of Trustees approved both agreements at its special meeting on June 29. Just before the approval, Superintendent Aaron Rosander looked to Classified School Employees Association (CSEA) President Ken Price for the vote from his organization.

“All yeses,” Price said of the CSEA vote.

Rosander said with CSEA’s vote to join the Mariposa County Teachers’ Association in the furlough agreement, “the entire district has agreed to a five-day, hard shut down.” Management, which includes administration, and confidential employees are taking the same furlough.

What the agreements do, in effect, is extend the spring break from one week to two. School will begin Aug. 24, and end June 9, 2011. Students and staff will recognize the traditional spring break from April 25 through 29, 2011. The shutdown immediately follows from May 2 through 6, 2011.

District 3 Board Member Judy Eppler publicly thanked the groups for their shared sacrifice. The groups also capped benefits for the coming school year, which helps saved the district some money as it is facing a 12 percent increase in benefit costs.

“The entire district has contributed to assisting in addressing our budget deficit,” Rosander said following the meeting. “It’s very impressive and inspiring.”

In a letter sent to staff in June, Rosander offered his gratitude to employees. “Perhaps most impressive this year was your demonstrated, unselfish dedication to our school district,” he wrote. “Your recent, unanimous vote to take reductions for next year was powerful and inspiring.”

Rosander continued, calling the shared sacrifice “wonderful, tangible examples of (employees) concern and care for our schools and community.” The superintendent said the action will not soon be forgotten. “While none of us knows when our shackled economy will be liberated or how long we will continue to wage war against fiscal plight, you have my word that when prosperity returns, and it will, we will not forget what you have done this year.”

Following the approval of the agreements, the board held a public hearing on the 2010-11 budget. Unlike last year, the budget was completed on time and provided the board, staff and the public with more answers than questions, even though there are some variables like the state’s budget mess that still linger.

Business Director Linda Levesque explained the potential cuts the district faces. It will be getting less funding per student in the coming year, and coupled with the continued declining enrollment, the cuts are even deeper. She said that the district is very close to becoming a “basic aid” funding model because of the amount of property taxes it receives.

MCUSD receives nearly 57 percent of the county’s property tax revenue, which totals about $11 million in the coming year. “It’s a real shell game what the state is doing,” she said. “It’s very complex.”

Still, the budget picture is much more clear and somewhat more bright than it has been in the past several years.

We’re going to be safely in the black right now, but there are some variables that we need to be cautious about,” Levesque said. “The work is ongoing.”

The district will have an ending fund balance of $1.6 million, about $284,000 over its required three percent reserve. “Which is great, actually,” Levesque said. Many school districts, especially small, rural ones, are having trouble meeting their reserves as California’s budget shortfall continues to spiral out of control.

The board adopted a budget that totals just over

17 million for the 2010-11 school year. The multi-year projections show a decrease in the 2011-12 school year to

16.8 million, based on decreasing revenue. By the 2012-13 school year, Levesque projects the district to be in the red by just over

100,000.

“Right now,” Levesque noted, “we’re in the black.”