Culver City Schools Struggle With Budget Crisis

UPDATE: Middle school Spanish has been reinstated as of July 20, 2010. 

This fall, middle school students won't be able to take Spanish or French, some athletic teams will have to find their own way to games, and adult school students will have to pay for classes that used to be free.

By cutting such programs as well as administrative positions, the Board of Education has trimmed about  $1.7 million from the Culver City Unified School District budget--and it isn't done yet. The board is looking to slash an additional $5.7 million from its approximately $51 million budget over the next three years.

That figure takes into account a balanced budget and a state-mandated reserve of three percent, said Ali Delawalla, assistant superintendent of business services.

"Do you close libraries, do you cut sports, cut counseling positions?" asked Scott Zeidman, vice president of the board. "There is no end in sight to this."

Reductions to the 2010-2011 budget include a shuffling of administrative positions to increase efficiency, said Karlo Silbiger, board clerk. 

The former account supervisor position was split into two clerk positions. Kevin Kronfeld, the principal of the adult school, will now be shouldering 40 percent of the work of the former director of special projects.

Middle school students will no longer be able to take summer school, which will be limited to those in high school, special education or adult school. School buses will no longer transport student athletes to games.

The middle school music program was also cut by 50 percent, which was "devastating," according to Silbiger. "In my mind this is No. 1 in terms of tough cuts," he said.

At Culver City Middle School, three teachers received pink slips in the spring, said Principal Jon Pearson. As of June 28, two of the pink slips had been  rescinded and an additional two teachers had been transferred to Culver City High School.

The per-student allocation from the state has been steadily dropping since the 2007-2008 year,  from a high of $5,896 to $5,027 for the fiscal year that begins July 1. It is expected to hover around $5,000 through 2012-2013. This drop in state funds accounts for $42 million  in lost  revenue from 2008 to now.

"Ultimately, we will have to make at least $1.5 million in cuts per year, in order to balance the $5.7 million,"  Zeidman said. "I don't know what the cuts will be until we deal with the community, talk to all the site administrators and talk to the unions, and figure out which cuts will be the least drastic on our children's education."

 The board is weighing several options--including more furlough days, cuts to administrative staff and teacher layoffs. "If I cut something this year in anticipation of three years away, then our kids will lose those benefits for two years," Zeidman said. "We have to be very judicious when we're cutting to make sure our kids aren't losing out."

To mitigate cuts to its music program, the middle school is combining classes rather than cutting them entirely. The school is combining its intermediate and advanced band classes as well as putting its intermediate guitar/piano class in with the strings ensemble.

As there is more flexibility with electives, the school is "improvising as much as we can so we are able to continue to offer the same courses," Pearson said.

Although core academic class offerings will remain the same as last year for Culver Middle School, Pearson said, that is not the case for language courses. Parent Denise Clary Wilson said she was "dismayed" to learn that next year the French 1B class at the school is slated for cancellation.

Culver City Adult School has also had to cut courses. It has eliminated career vocational education classes for the fall,  Kronfeld said. That includes courses on how to become a school security guard, an adult education teacher, a medical biller and a real estate agent. 

Many of the courses that were eliminated from the budget—such as a medical billing class--will actually still be available, but students must pay for them, Silbiger said.

"The decision on the part of the board [was that] it was better to use the money on K-12, and anything outside of that was less of a priority," Silbiger said. "I voted against this decision."

Kronfeld disagrees as well.

"Vocational education classes are really important," he said. "Those are classes that get students directly into a job. We've eliminated those classes that lead to direct employment."

Parent organizations are looking for ways to help fill in the funding gaps, said Laura Chardiet, president of the Culver City Council of PTA's.

"The PTAs and booster clubs at CCUSD have felt more pressure this year to raise money to help pay to offset these cuts, and help pay for programs that may be cut," she said.

Chardiet is hopeful that the passage of Measure EE, which authorizes a $100 per year tax to be levied on every parcel of taxable real property, will help offset some of the effects of the budget cuts. "Maybe three years later, we will be able to see if it really made a difference," she said.

*Newly Paul contributed to this report. 

Coming soon:

How are school sports teams dealing with the cuts? If you are a Culver City High athlete, contact Patch and share your story.

How is the budget crisis affecting teachers in the district? If you are a teacher, let us know how the cuts are affecting your classroom.