Schools

On Question of Buybacks, PUSD Points to Furloughs

Administrators and school board members say restoring instructional days with parent donations would be more prudent than bringing back programs that have been cut.

Parents have been asking Piedmont Superintendent of Schools Connie Hubbard what they can buy with their money. Hubbard, with the blessing of the school board, is suggesting that, if anything, they buy back furloughed instructional days.

The Associated Parent Clubs and the Piedmont Educational Foundation , raising hundreds of thousands more than they had previously and well above the $1.3 million the school district anticipated in its adopted 2011-2012 budget.

But the district administration and the school board are asking the fund-raising groups to hold on to the extra $300,000 to $400,000 they have to spend until the fallout from the state budget is known.

The tax extensions Governor Jerry Brown wanted to maintain funding for education are now dead in the water as Republicans have refused to allow the measures on the state ballot. The budget just passed by California's general assembly now depends on sunny forecasts of $4 billion more in revenue in 2011-2012. If those revenues don't materialize, the state may make mid-year cuts to K-12 education and encourage school districts to cut the academic year short by seven additional days, according to a Sacramento Bee report.

PUSD employees already each year, including two instructional days, in order to what was once projected to be a for the district through 2013. Buying back one furloughed day would cost about $90,000.

The administration and the school board admit that it's tempting for parents to put their money toward restoring the $300,000 to $500,000 worth of staffing that will be cut from programs such as music and library services to balance the district's budget. But they say that would only postpone the inevitable as, even without further cuts to state funding, the district is facing an $878,000 deficit for 2013-2014 once the supplementary Measure E parcel tax has expired.

"We really need to reduce our footprint," said school board member Martha Jones, who's in favor of instructional day buybacks.


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