Novato End Of Week Communication - June 12, 2020

Press release from the Novato Unified School District:

June 12, 2020

En español

Dear NUSD Community Member,

Congratulations on making it to the end of the 2020-2021 school year! If ever there was a year when everyone deserved a trophy, it would be this year! So much has been asked of everyone (students, staff, parents, community members) and so many have risen up to help us get to this point. I appreciate each of you who has chosen to play a positive role through this crisis.

One key topic this week is NUSD’s budget. A staff report on NUSD’s budget was brought before the Board last Tuesday as we are committed to transparently communicating with our community regarding the terrible fiscal situation facing NUSD as a result of COVID-19. We need our community to understand the gut-wrenching decisions before us.

Avoiding State Takeover

I continue to hear that our community is unclear on our budget situation. Our community deserves clarity, so I am going to be clear. If the Governor’s budget is enacted and NUSD does not make significant budget cuts, we will run out of money by the summer of 2021 and NUSD would be taken over by the State of California. If we make minor cuts, we will be taken over by the fall of 2021.

State takeover would lead to the appointment of a State Administrator to assume leadership over NUSD. The State Administrator would not consider the important role parents play in advocacy, would make the School Board advisory and would replace the Superintendent. Here is a link to Sacramento City Unified School District’s communication regarding their potential State takeover. We will create a budget that keeps NUSD from being taken over by the State of California. It will not be easy; it will involve hard decisions and it will take a team approach.

NUSD’s Budget Situation

NUSD has long term budget challenges that cannot be addressed with one-time budget solutions. I continue to hear budget solutions that nibble around the edges of our budget. The simple reality is that we cannot cut $7 million from our budget in this manner. Further, I hear that now is the time to spend down our reserve. As background, NUSD has been spending down its reserve since 2011 when it was at 22%. There have been many factors leading to this including:

• Increasing employee compensation to the rates of our comparable districts
• Increasing legally mandated pension contributions, declining student enrollment
• A flattening of State contributions to education
• The rising costs of special education services and
• Our failure to pass Measure A this spring.

Our reserve was 12% at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, was projected to be at 10% by the end of 2019-2020, and then 8% by the end of 2020-2021. The projected budget we will bring to the Board next week will show a 3% State mandated reserve and the need for significant cuts. The average unified school district’s reserve was 16% on June 30, 2019. For more information about our reserve, please click here.

85%-86% of NUSD’s budget is in people. Most of the remaining 14-15% is tied up in areas we cannot reduce like utilities, insurance, and special education placements outside of NUSD. Additionally, included in this percentage is mental health counseling and professional development, both of which are needed now more than ever. In the absence of our Labor groups agreeing to concessions, NUSD has only two tools available for significant budget reductions. One is layoffs. The other is not filling vacant positions.

We can get through this. I believe that if we all make some sacrifices, we will reduce the number of our programs we need to reduce/eliminate and reduce the number of team members who will need to make the massive sacrifice of layoff. Representatives of our management team have come to the table with suggestions for cuts from within their membership. Representatives of our classified union, CSEA, have come to the table with suggestions for places where they can support painful cuts. We hope to hear from our teacher’s union, NFT, about concessions they are willing to make to help us achieve our budget goals.

Is Novato alone in this?

NUSD is not alone in this struggle. This is a statewide challenge hitting other Marin County districts. San Rafael City Schools (SRCS) is a similarly sized district with greater resources than NUSD. Earlier this week, SRCS’s Trustees voted to eliminate over 100 classified positions. Miller Creek School District took similar actions though on a smaller scale.

Future Board Meetings and discussions

Our next regular Board meeting will be on June 16, 2020. We will not be bringing forward any budget reductions at this meeting. Recommendations for budget reductions will be brought to the Board at our June 30, 2020, Board meeting. We will release another Thoughtexchange on Wednesday, June 17, 2020, for the community to give us input on NUSD’s budget situation. We will also develop other ways to engage with the community regarding budget reductions prior to recommending future reductions.

Advocacy

I appreciate the advocacy efforts many have made to myself and our Trustees. This is important. I believe advocacy outside of NUSD is even more important. For more information about advocacy, please click here.

It is disappointing that our final end of week communication for the 2019-2020 school year is disheartening. Please know that we have great expertise in NUSD. I’m a big believer that leadership always matters. It matters even more during these difficult times. We are also lucky to be supported by so many within our community who never fail to do all they can for our schools. Now is the time for us all to come together to help us get through this difficult time. I am confident we will.

Sincerely,

Kris Cosca

This press release was produced by the Novato Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.