The Los Alamitos Unified School District's Board Of Education held a special board meeting last night to consider the continuing financial shakeout in response to the recently passed state budget. The most immediate affect was the passage of a resolution to layoff 3 more bus drivers. These layoffs are in addition to the increases in bus fees, now $624 per student per year. AT the same time, parents are receiving solicitations asking for contributions of $245 per student to help cover the budget shortages.

While much about the impact of the new state budget is still unknown by the district's financial people, one item which is clear is a 20% reduction in funding for the buses. According to Patricia Meyer, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services, the bus driver layoffs and the higher fees should cover the costs of operating the buses. That is dependant, of course, on the number of students signing up to ride the buses.

Although it was not discussed at the School Board meeting, this week some parents started receiving letters asking for a contribution of $245 per student for the new school year. The letter was sent on district letterhead, but it was not signed as an official district letter. It was signed anonymously by concerned parents. The letter suggests that the money would be used to maintain the teaching staff. The letter referenced the Los Alamitos Unified School District Educational Foundation, which is a quasi-independent nonprofit organization. We say quasi independent because, while a separate legal non-governmental organization, the foundation works directly with the district and even uses the same phone number as the district.

Meyer said her staff is in the process of determining the full impact of the new state budget, but she warned that even when that is known, that will not be the end of the problems. She said that they have come to expect a new budget hit about every 5 months because that is when the state does a new revenue forecast.

Not only are the numbers for the next school year still unclear, the state is not done with making adjustments to the school year which ended on 6/30/09. Meyer indicated that they have not been able to close the books on last year, which normally would be done by now, because the state is still making adjustments.

She expects to come to the School Board's September meeting with final numbers for the year ended 6/30/09 and a new budget for the 2009/2010 school year. While she could not give an amount of the latest reduction in the state's school funding, it seems safe to assume it will be lower than the amounts used in the district's budget which was just recently adopted. In addition to reductions in total funding, there are also delays in the timing of when the state sends the district its money. The state is deferring some payments as one of the devices to balance the state budget for the next fiscal year. Meyer indicated this means that the district must be very careful about managing its cash flow, but she said she was not worried because there are balances which can be shifted between funds to cover the cash flow timing issues.

The Los Alamitos Unified School District provides K-12 public schools for the cities of Los Alamitos and Seal Beach, and the community of Rossmoor, and other adjoining areas.