OUSD closing budget gap
By Bret Bradigan

With one board meeting before approving next year's budget, the Ojai Unified School District learned Tuesday night that district administrators had closed to within $329,000 of the total $1,719,000 in needed cuts.
Superintendent Dr. Van Riley and Dannielle Pusatere, the district's fiscal officer, led the board through the latest news from California's budget front in Sacramento. While still bleak, the picture has improved from Gov. Gray Davis' grim forecast in January.

The May budget revision has restored $770,000 - from an expected $2,489,000 in cuts to a more realistic $1,719,000, though Riley cautioned that these number are likely to change until the state passes its budget, a process which could drag on through the summer. School districts are required to pass their budgets by July 1.

One boon to the district is a provision that allows them to use 50 percent of any unspent categorical fund balances to offset mid-year budget cuts. Given the tight reins on spending already in place, this has given the Ojai District an extra $335,000.

To close that remaining $329,000 gap with a safe cushion, Riley proposed cuts in four areas totaling $430,000 - $100,000 for Elementary preparation time for music and physical education; $200,000 in further classified staff reductions; categorical offsets or rolling over savings totaling $100,000; and $30,000 in additional line item cuts.

Riley expressed recommended against cuts in library funds, work-day furloughs and step and column freezes.

"If we do any (further) reductions at all, in the future, it will affect classrooms," he said.

Before moving that the board accept Riley's recommendations on a proposed budget for action at the June 24 board meeting, board President Tim Peddicord said, "I think we've caused enough pain with the cuts we've already made."

The lengthy meeting got off to a bittersweet beginning, as district principals and administrators acknowledged veteran staff members who would not be returning for the next school year. Summit High School Principal Doug Becker extolled the virtues of Veronica "Ronnie" Rodriguez, who is leaving the school after 30 years, and who has been in teaching for 37 years. "She's a great teacher, but more than that, she's been a great leader for her students, for her school, for the district and for her community," he said.

Assistant Superintendent Jim Berube read a letter from a satisfied passenger of bus driver Karen Corley, who had gone above and beyond the call of duty in 1972, and was retiring after 31 years with the district. "She's pulled a whole lot of us out of trouble over the years," he said.

Other retirees acknowledged were Nordhoff High School secretary Carolyn "Pinky" Belshe, retiring after 24 years; David Cure, a Nordhoff janitor retiring after 17 years; Donna Dahlstrom-Rabe, retiring after 19 years as a teacher, and after six years as Nordhoff's Spanish teacher; and Nancy Hurley, the district's purchasing officer retiring after 30 years.
Putting the special in special education were two district educators, who were honored at the meeting by receiving the Golden Bell Award from the Ventura County Community Advisory Committee. Vickie Surroz, a teacher at Topa Topa Elementary School, and Doug Roberts, a physical education teacher at Matilija Junior High School were nominated by their special needs students and parents. Dr. Bernard Korenstein, executive director of the Special Education Local Area Plan, said that only five educators in Ventura County are selected from among the 20 districts and 2,600 eligible people.

"That says a lot about the quality of what goes on around Ojai," he said.
Lauren Wyatt, at her final meeting as the student representative to the board, was praised by Nordhoff Principal Dan Musick, who gave her credit "for a 180-degree turnaround in the attitude of the student body."

Student handiwork was on display for the board of trustees before the meeting began, in the Chaparral Auditorium, with more than a dozen service learning projects and the students responsible for it. Chris Johnson, the district's service learning director, and administrator of the CalServ grant, informed the district that the project has gone beyond its three-year development phase, and into a three-year sustainability phase, according to the CalServ office.

"We are finding ways to have service learning become part of the curriculum," she said. "We address in the classroom real community problems while meeting (education curriculum) standards." After three years, 15 partners have signed on, from the first, Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, to the City of Ojai to private outfits such as Ojai Solar Electric.

The district will receive $300,000 over those three years from CalServ, as well as another $76,000 this coming year from the state for projects that teach values espoused by Cesar Chavez.

"We're in good shape for next year," Johnson said, noting that the district's service learning programs and lesson plans have become a model for other districts.

John Walker, the district's classified personnel director, presented the board with justifications for the role of his office, noting that district employees voted for the commission, and its merit system of promotions and hiring, in 1969. Though only about 10 percent of California's 1,000 school districts have a classified personnel commission, 60 percent of the state's school classified employees are represented, given that most of the larger districts have commissions.

The commission reduced its budget 23 percent last year, as Walker is a part-time employee, and the entire staffing equals only 1.4 full-time positions. The entire budget last year was $124,665 - less per employee than other districts in Ventura County. He also said that the office keeps busy screening and testing job applicants, presenting lists of acceptable candidates to the hiring managers.

Board member Rikki Horne questioned the redundancies of the system. "Why the personnel commission and CSEA (California State Employees Association)? Don't they serve as watchdogs for classified employees?" Board member Bob Unruhe noted that since the advent of collective bargaining, the need for the commission has diminished, though board member Pauline Mercado said that "it was nice to have a process where we are one step removed" from charges of favoritism or retaliation.

Walker said, "This is the system in place that the employees have voted on

Walker acknowledged "that there is some contention built into the system. The personnel commission has the last say when it comes to ultimate discipline."

In other business, the district approved a change in the Smart Start lease to a 10-year lease at $100 per month for the four Smart Start sites at local elementary schools. Smart Start Director Dana Huffman thanked the board for its backing. "You've really supported us during some hard times," she said.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

Back to the news