Wednesday May 7

Burlingame schools seek heavy cuts

District needs $750K trimmed from budget

By Mark Abramson / Daily News Staff Writer

School secretaries, librarians, counselors and maintenance workers urged the Burlingame School District Board to spare their jobs Tuesday night as the trustees searched for ways to slash about $750,000 from the 2008-2009 budget.

District officials said cuts are needed because Burlingame schools will only get $19 million from the state in the next budget year, which starts July 1, compared to the $19.6 million this year. The district's projected expenditures in the 2008-2009 budget year are $21.1 million.

Board Vice President Greg Land urged the parents, teachers and others who attended the special meeting on the budget to write their elected representatives urging them not to cut education funding.

"If you don't do that, our voice is lost," Land said.

Superintendent Sonny Da Marto has recommended that the district cut $1.1 million in expenditures, but as of press time trustees were looking for ways to cut only $750,000 by dipping into reserves.

"(May 27) is when we make the decisions and it won't be easy," Board President Michael Barber said during the special meeting on the budget.

"Somebody is going to have to make the decision; we are going to do the best we can. We can't guarantee 100 percent satisfaction for everyone here," Barber said.

Tuesday's meeting comes after the district surveyed almost 1,000 people in April on cuts to the district's budget.

As a result of those surveys the district is considering cutting library staffs by more than 50 percent; eliminating clerical positions notably in the district office and at Burlingame Intermediate School; cutting $225,000 by eliminating the district's Early Literacy program, which helps children who fall behind in reading skills; cutting counseling positions at BIS.

"Without the current staffing many student-related details would not be completed," Victoria Oyue, the district's administrative assistant for personnel told the board. "These people have real-life obligations. For the small savings these cuts will gain the losses will be huge."

Secretaries and BIS counselors also urged the board to spare their jobs, and warned them about what the impacts would be if their jobs were eliminated.

"Please keep in mind you can take away one, but you will affect all," counselor Jennifer Ibos said.

The district employees' urged the board not to cut needed staff positions after state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Mateo/San Francisco discussed the state's budget situation and indicated it could get worse.

"I unfortunately don't bring good news to you whatsoever," Yee told the board.

Yee said a decline in sales tax and other revenues means that California is facing probably a nearly $20 billion shortfall. And the state has opted not to borrow any more money because it has passed bonds in the past to bail itself out of a budget hole.

"Unfortunately, the difficulty that we are all in is we don't have any more tricks in the hat, we can't pull any more rabbits out," Yee said.

But Yee's office has indicated that it wants to make education funding a priority in the state budget.

"The governor has called for across the board cuts," Yee spokesman Adam Keigwin said before the meeting. "It is the senator's plan to fight cuts to education."

School Board President Michael Barber suggested that the district look at passing a parcel tax to help generate revenue. Other ideas included more assistance from the nonprofit fundraising group the Burlingame Community for Education Foundation (BCE).

"Public education in California is no longer free. It is a private-public partnership and we all have to contribute," BCE President Christine Sealey said. "The bare minimum we get from the state is not enough ... so to be successful we need everyone's participation."



E-mail Mark Abramson at mabramson@dailynewsgroup.com.