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Light Rain School officials kick off budget talks
Float two spending options for 2015-16; Kaminsky calls for more state aid
The Long Beach School District began budget talks for the 2015-16 school year at the Feb. 10 Board of Education meeting, discussing two options for the spending plan and addressing the district’s fiscal health following the release of a state audit last month.
The district proposed an operating budget of $131.9 million for next year, a 1.47 percent increase over the current spending plan. The proposed budget maintains the district’s current level of programs and includes projected increases in health insurance and special education costs, as well as a decrease in pension costs and a general fund subsidy for food services.
Chief Operating Officer Michael DeVito also presented an alternative budget based on the lower cost of replacing retiring staff with new teachers at lower starting salaries. That budget would come in at $130.8 million, an increase of only .63 percent. The district also proposed a 3.19 percent increase in the tax levy.
In either case, DeVito plans to wean the district off using its reserve funds. According to Superintendent David Weiss, new legislation proposed by State Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) could help the district achieve that goal by repealing the state’s Gap Elimination Adjustment.
The GEA was first introduced in the 2010 fiscal year to combat a state deficit and has taken approximately $3 million in education funding from Long Beach each year, according to Weiss.
“We need to get rid of the GEA so that our schools get the funding they deserve and we keep the South Shore community affordable for our families,” Kaminsky said in a statement.
If passed, the bill would result in millions of dollars in additional state aid to South Shore school districts. “It would help us get to a point of long-term sustainability in funding education,” Weiss said.
The board has been in talks with Kaminsky about what type of aid the district needs in order to fully fund its programs without relying on reserves. “The more we use these reserve funds, the closer we come to fiscal distress,” DeVito said. “And we have to be careful about that.”
