Five Riverside County School Districts Won’t Meet Budget
Five school districts in Riverside County may not meet their budget obligations for the current fiscal year, according to a report released Tuesday by the California Department of Education.
The Riverside County school districts — Alvord, Coachella Valley, Desert Sands, Riverside and Nuview — were classified as “qualified certification,” meaning officials don’t expect them to meet financial obligations this fiscal year and the subsequent two.
Alvord Unified School District Layoff Notices: 39 teachers.
Corona-Norco Unified School District Layoff Notices: 0 teachers and classified staff.
Hemet Unified School District Layoff Notices: 86 teachers.
Moreno Valley Unified School District Layoff Notices: 75 teachers and 240.1 classified staff.
Murrieta Valley Unified School District Budget Cuts: $15 million. Other Cuts: 10 unpaid furlough days.
Nuview Union School District Budget Cuts: $0.17 million. Layoff Notices: 17.6 teachers.Other Cuts: ECE Program, Even Start.
Riverside Unified School District Layoff Notices: 0 teachers and classified staff.
Romoland Elementary School District Layoff Notices: 11 teachers.
Temecula Valley Unified School District Layoff Notices: 0 teachers and classified staff.
The Interim Status Report offered a grim layout of public education in California, with 13 districts labeled as “negative certification,” meaning they will not meet their financial obligations for this fiscal year as well as the 2011-12 fiscal year, one more district than last year.
“Basically, the educational program gets hit more and more. And the final impact is to the kids,” said Cindy McDaniel, assistand superintendent at Desert Sands Unified.
Desert Sands Unified is facing a budget shortfall of $9 million and Coachella Valley Unified is nearly $19 million in the hole.
“The emergency confronting California schools is widening and deepening,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said.
Torlakson cautioned that the figures released today preceded Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal and do not reflect what may result from his proposed multi-billion dollar funding deferral and potential loss of temporary tax revenues.
“Schools face the daunting challenge of up to $4.5 billion in additional cuts if tax extensions are not placed on the ballot by the Legislature and approved by voters in June,” Torlakson said of cuts that would add up to an additional 10 percent.
“This would be devastating to an education system that has already sustained $18 billion in state funding cuts over the last three years.”
Across the state, 97 school districts were said to be in the “qualified certification” category. Combined with those in the “negative certification” class, that means nearly two million students — about 30 percent of all pupils in the state — attend schools in serious financial hardship, Torlakson said. Last year, 114 school districts were given “qualified” status.
Just three years ago, only 29 school districts were classified as “qualified certification” and seven as “negative certification.”
Of the Riverside County school districts in the report, the Riverside Unified School District has the highest budget of $344.63 million, according to the report.
The Desert Sands Unified District’s budget is $228.32 million, while the neighboring Coachella Valley Unified School District’s budget is $179.33 million.
The Riverside-based Alvord Unified School District has a $157.45 million budget, while Nuview Union — an elementary school district east of Perris — has a budget of $13.62 million.
The report is the first semiannual Interim Status Report and looked at the budgets of school districts and other public agencies through October.
