Illustration by Maytal Bach
Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) is considering several proposals to reduce costs for next school year in order to make a total $1.8 million of budget cuts. The Superintendent’s Budget Advisory Committee (SBAC) is working to identify possible reductions in spending and their potential consequences, and make budget recommendations to the School Board. “Right now we’re still getting a lot of information about all of the different things under consideration for cuts,” said School Board member Judy Appel.
Appel said that school districts across California will experience budget cuts this year because while the state has increased the amount districts must contribute to teachers’ pension funds, it has not raised state funding for districts to compensate for this new policy.
Proposals under consideration have included cutting 1.5 Full Time Equivalents (FTE) of counselors at Berkeley High School, the BHS Dean of Attendance, the Berkeley Independent Study (BIS) Coordinator, and several safety officers.
After further discussion, members of the Budget Committee suggested funding 1.0 of the 1.5 FTE in counselors who were to be cut from another fund so that only 0.5 FTE in BHS counselors is eliminated.
Most financial changes are being proposed for the general fund, but retaining the counselor position would utilize some funding from the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project (BSEP), a funding pool supported by a local parcel tax. Seven percent of BSEP funding is dedicated to “Effective Student Support,” including counseling and behavioral health services. Some of this student support funding has already been used for counselors at the middle school level.
While the Dean of Attendance is part of a different union, Berkeley Federation of Teachers President Cathy Campbell questioned whether the administration at BHS could run the school with one less administrator. To that end, Campbell said she and her colleagues are working hard to find alternative solutions. “We understand that all of these cuts will have an impact on Berkeley High,” said Campbell.
Former BHS Principal and current Associate Superintendent of Educational Services Pasquale Scuderi presented to the School Board regarding funding options for Berkeley Technology Academy (BTA) at their November 1 meeting.
Scuderi said not enough of the students BTA is meant to support have been enrolling in BTA. As a result, BTA has been struggling with enrollment.
Scuderi suggested that the district do one of two things: enforce an involuntary transfer policy, or redistribute resources from BTA to BHS. The latter, he said, would mean merging BTA and BIS.
The merger would mean that one administrator and one counselor would be allotted to the combined student body and community. BTA and BIS community members have spoken out against this proposition.
“Almost every district is in the same situation,” Appel said regarding BUSD’s projected budget cuts. She added, “Even though … the state is economically in good shape … we still have to make these cuts. It just makes me wonder where the priorities are in the state.”
The SBAC will continue working to recommend revisions for the budget in the coming months. The Board will decide by June 30, 2018 how to balance the BUSD budget.