March 10, 2009

Dear PUSD Community Member:

In this environment of economic uncertainty, the Board of Education and I are committed to keeping our employees, families and community members informed about the financial position of the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) and our efforts to balance the budget, preserve our focus on student achievement and accelerate academic and organizational improvement.

On March 3, the Board of Education held the first of a series of study sessions to hear an update on the state budget and federal stimulus bill, review projected major changes for the Second Interim Report, and discuss an approach and process for development of the 2009-10 budget.

The recently adopted state budget will cut a total of $13 million from PUSD’s General Fund over the next 18 months, and require a 20 percent reduction in categorical funds. Despite the size and immediacy of the reductions, PUSD will be able to balance its budget for 2008-09, entering the upcoming fiscal year in a stronger position than most school districts statewide. Additionally, PUSD is projected to receive approximately $11 million from the federal stimulus package, which will further mitigate the deficit in the short term.

The Board of Education enacted a variety of proactive measures to reduce expenditures over the past year, including backfilling the shortfall with one-time funds, identifying $3 million in current-year reductions, leaving vacancies unfilled, shifting expenditures to categorical sources, and restructuring positions for greater efficiency. Although the stimulus funding will help in the short term, these are only one-time funds, and we will have to identify an additional $6 to $7 million in ongoing reductions to maintain a balanced budget in future years.

Before March 15, PUSD will determine the number of layoff notices to be issued to help close the budget gap. Currently, we are estimating that PUSD will issue approximately 35 to 50 certificated notices. This number is relatively low compared to neighboring districts, such as Azusa, which plans to cut 116, and Rowland Heights, which may issue 88 notices. Nevertheless, we are saddened at the prospect of making any staff reductions during this difficult time, and we are considering various strategies to limit staff reductions.

District executive staff continues to meet bi-weekly to gather information and identify areas for additional cuts. Recently, those discussions have focused on establishing base staffing ratios for every job classification. This will ensure that we have a consistent and equitable level of staff at every campus district-wide. The group also continues to evaluate existing programs in which the District is currently investing significant resources, including: International Baccalaureate, supplemental staffing for the Reinvention of John Muir, JROTC and the KLRN television station. Among the other budget reduction ideas under consideration are: increasing class sizes, reducing counselors, reducing summer school offerings, and cutting security officers.

On March 6, the Board held a study session focused on prioritizing budget decisions and to finalize recommendations for March 15 notices. On March 11, the Board will hold a third study session to certify the second interim report and develop a process and timeline for addressing 2009-10 budget decisions.

We will continue to keep you updated as the budget process moves forward, both through our ongoing communication with employee bargaining units and direct communications to employees. For more information about the PUSD budget, please visit www.pusdbudget.org

Sincerely,

Edwin Diaz