The Abridged version:
- The Davis Joint Unified school board is preparing to make roughly $4 million in budget cuts this school year, as enrollment continues to decline and funding levels drop.
- Superintendent Matt Best said the majority of these reductions will take the form of staff layoffs.
- District leaders are months out from making any specific decisions. The board on Thursday discussed how they want to gather community input on the process.
Davis schools have a tough road ahead, as leaders are preparing to make roughly $4 million worth of cuts this school year.
The majority of those reductions will be layoffs, said Davis Joint Unified Superintendent Matt Best.
“Eighty-five percent of our budget’s people,” Best said, a statistic that’s on par with most California school districts.
The cuts come as Davis schools are getting smaller. Fewer students means less money, since state funding is tied to attendance. And because so much of the budget goes toward staff compensation, the majority of savings come from letting people go, officials said.
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Decreasing enrollment is an issue not unique to Davis. Only a handful of the more than 1,000 districts in the state are expected to gain students in the next decade, according to recent projections.
“This is happening throughout California,” said Trustee Cecilia Escamilla Greenwald. “It’s going to be interesting to see if there’s laws that change to address enrollment and funding for schools, and what it’s going to look like here locally.”
Feedback wanted
Best and trustees discussed a six-month process leading up to eventual layoff decisions, the state-mandated deadline for which is March 15.
That runway allows time to gather community input, including at a town hall, tentatively scheduled for the second week of November.
District leaders deliberated Thursday what that public forum might look like.
Some trustees noted the pros of several small-group gatherings, including the opportunity for attendees to ask more specific questions and feel heard. But Best and others acknowledged the tough logistics of scheduling multiple meetings and the advantage of having one large assembly.
Colleen Zern, a Davis parent and school board candidate, said she was grateful for the open conversation and encouraged district officials to share additional information or updates as widely as possible.
“The more educated our community can be on this, the better this process is going to go for everyone,” she said.
‘Strategic’ cuts
Staff do not yet have a number for how many layoffs or which departments would be targeted.
By starting talks now, Best said the cuts can be “more surgical and strategic.”
Best said they will know more as the school year goes on, including when the governor’s budget proposal comes out in January.
He also said he expects “relatively large” budget reductions to be an annual necessity for the next several years, a concern board members echoed.
“There’s not one thing that’s going to solve this,” said Trustee Joe DiNunzio.
“This is part of a process,” he added. “We need to be thinking in the context of multiple years of declining enrollment, reduced budget and budget cuts.”
