City's Largest School District Bracing for More Cuts

If one of the numerous proposals to raise education funding, including Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to temporarily increase sales tax and income tax don’t pass this fall, Petaluma’s largest school district will face a $1.7 million shortfall in the next school year and a $7.8 million shortfall in 2013.

Petaluma City Schools, which teaches roughly 10,000 students in 17 schools, is at a critical juncture. The district is now scrambling to figure out where to make the cuts and considering all options, including laying off teachers, decreasing school days and asking teachers to take a pay cut.

“The challenge is really unbelievable,” said District Superintendent Steve Bolman. “Eighty five percent of our budget is people and we’ve already cut down to the bone…We’ve already cut our electricity and energy costs as much as we can."

These are dire times for California education, which collectively has lost $35 billion over the past five years. Today, the state ranks 47th in terms of funding, according to Midge Hoffman, the district’s chief business officer.

States like Vermont, Rhode Island and Wyoming, spend an average of $18,000 per student every year, but California spends only $7,000 per student, meaning music, art and sports get short shrift. In fact, per pupil spending at Petaluma City Schools is even lower, with the district receiving just $5,200 per student.

And the situation may get even worse unless one of at least three school funding initiatives is passed in November. These include the governor’s plan to raise taxes on people making $250,000 or more a year, an effort by California Federation of Teachers to raise taxes on those earning at least $1 million and another by Pasadena civil rights attorney Molly Munger, which would increase income taxes on a sliding scale and raise $10 billion annually for 12 years.

The bevy of options before voters is considered a threat to Gov. Brown’s proposal. However, according to a poll by San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California, two thirds of voters support the governor’s plan.

Meanwhile, Petaluma’s largest district is considering all options, including reducing the number of school days from 177 to as little as 160 days a year, and laying off teachers. Most industrialized countries have an average of 200 school days per year.

“We’re trying to compete in this global economy, but we’re kind of going in reverse,” Bolman, the superintendent said. “It’s never been my goal to be just average, but in this case I would welcome it.”