[ilbegone]

Riverside school trustees hear grim budget report

10:00 PM PDT on Monday, October 19, 2009

By DAYNA STRAEHLEY
The Press-Enterprise

California's per-pupil spending has dropped to 50th out of 50 states and is $1,700 less than the national average, an administrator told the Riverside school board Monday.

Mike Fine, deputy superintendent of the Riverside Unified School District, said in his budget update that the 50th-place ranking resulted from state budget cuts in May.

School funding based on Prop. 98, which set minimum funding guarantees, has fallen 13 percent since 2008, Fine said. He projected further cuts for 2009-10 after January and more for 2010-11.

With revenue declining and not projected to improve for a few years, Trustee Tom Hunt suggested the district may have to consider consolidating some schools.

"We have some sites here with low enrollment and we may have to make some difficult decisions," Hunt said after Fine's update.

"Absolutely," said board President Kathy Allavie.

The district expects a shortfall of $66.3 million by 2011-12, Fine said.

The district will spend $25.6 million more than its revenue for the current year but has a $47 million balance, his memo said. School districts received some federal stimulus money late last year. California districts also expected 2008-09 budget cuts from Sacramento, which were postponed until this year.

The budget projects a $10 million balance going into 2010-11 and a shortfall of $22.2 million, the memo states.

Per pupil revenue from the state has dropped to $5,209.23. It had been projected at $6,380.34 before state budget cuts, the staff report says.

However, state revenues still are falling below the projections on which the state budget was based.