State Of The Budget

Message from Superintendent Frank Porter regarding the Budget Crisis

No doubt someone you know has been affected by the current economic conditions facing our country and the world. Twin Rivers Unified School District is also being severely affected. All of the schools in our State will need to make hard decisions in order to meet the budget proposed by the legislature.

How California Compares

Over the years, our public schools have reduced services and personnel to try to maintain a high quality education with below-average funding. California has academic standards among the top five in the nation and the most challenging student population. Yet, the funding for California's children is at least $653 per student below the national average, less than half the amount spent in New York, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., and with our new budget we will rank 49th in the country.

The Financial Cushion Unification Provided

Last spring, the mid-year cuts facing California school districts forced our neighboring districts into layoffs and program reductions. The four unifying districts of the Twin Rivers USD were spared those cuts with a bump in State funding that offset last year's funding reductions.

This Year's Budget

This year's proposed state funding reductions go even deeper and will greatly affect Twin Rivers USD. The budget proposals prepared by the governor and legislators call for funding cuts for the current year and next. We will continue to monitor the budget developments and communicate with our legislative representatives regarding the impact of the current budget proposals on our schools.

What We Are Doing Today

Some of the actions we have already taken to address this issue include:

• Freezing all but the most critical hiring and contracting
• Reducing management by 18% by June 2009
• Eliminating unfilled positions
• Offering Early Retirement Programs to employees
• Asking all employees to consider a five day reduction in our work year to minimize layoffs
• Conducting a staff and community survey for cost-cutting ideas
• Working together with the Budget Advisory Committee (community, parent and association representatives and principals) to seek input and advice on balancing the budget.

What You Can Do

Educate yourself and your friends about our education budget

Maintain an Optimistic Attitude

We will all need to practice patience and understanding. What we are experiencing today is a perfect-storm of economic difficulties complicated by years of under-funding for our public school system. In the past, we have concentrated on cutting supplemental educational services. With the magnitude of the cuts on the horizon, every program and classroom will likely feel the impact. We will have to be creative and resourceful to accomplish our goals.

Keep your Child in Class

One of the ways you can ensure your school receives the maximum funding is to make sure your child is attending school every day. When a student misses even part of a day, our schools lose funding and resources for classrooms and programs.

Stay Hopeful

The budget picture for the next few years will likely remain dismal. However, the talent, commitment and quality of our classified staff, teachers, community and administrators is unlimited. We will all need to work together in order to do our best for our students. The budget information on this page will be updated as we learn more about the state budget and as we prepare for challenges in the coming year.