Old Adobe Worst-Case Scenario Could Leave District Bankrupt in Four Years

A glum Old Adobe School Board Thursday voted unanimously to layoff more than 15 full time teachers and directed staff to work on a worst-case scenario budget that could leave the district bankrupt in four years.

The board, on the recommendation of Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) and District Business Services Manager Andi Stubbs, adopted worst-case budget assumptions for the 2011-2012 school year.

Superintendent Dianne Zimmerman lamented that the cuts are more than just cuts to staff. 

“This is a knowledge drain for the district,” she said. “We are losing fabulous writing teachers, fabulous music teachers but we have no choice but to move forward.”

This budget assumes voters will either not have the opportunity to vote on tax extensions to fund education or the voters reject those extensions in a June special election, resulting in a $1 million in deficit in upcoming budgets.

“There’s a possibility that by 2014 – 2015 the district will be insolvent if the tax extensions don’t pass,” Stubbs told the board.

“This is a worst case scenario budget," she emphasized. "We don’t know what our class sizes will be, we don’t know what our kindergarten class size will be.”

California requires school districts to maintain an emergency reserve fund equal to 3 percent of the general fund. Stubbs said the district can maintain the 3 percent reserve in the worst-case budget for three more years but, if expenses continue to outpace revenues, the district would be bankrupt in 2014-2015, unable to meet the 3 percent reserve requirement.

Stubbs emphasized the small measure of safety a 3 percent reserve really offers and said the reserve would not cover district bills for even a month. Most accounting firms tell government agencies they should carry reserves of between 15 and 20 percent to be in top financial health.

After giving staff direction on the budget, the board addressed another pressing budget issue voting to send layoff notices to district teachers.

The district plans to layoff to more than 15 full-time teachers and a number of part-time teachers. In all, the district will cut 18.5 full and part time positions. The district currently has 92 teachers. Twenty-one of those instructors are working in special education.

“In my time here, I invested heavily in recruitment and training,” Zimmermann said. “Now I am faced with laying off every teacher I’ve hired in the nine years since I’ve been here.”

Contracts require the district to mail layoff notices by Tuesday, March 15.

Board President Marlene Abel said losing so many teachers was like “losing part of the family.”

“Some of these people teachers have been here since 1999,” Abel noted. “I can see where teachers in their first or second year here might expect to be laid off work but some of these teachers have been here more than 10 years.”