The Kentfield School District is a basic aid or community-funded district, which means that almost all general purpose funding comes from community resources--property and parcel taxes, donors and other local funding. A very small percentage of our budget is funded by Federal revenue. The remaining monies (about $750,000 this year) are State-funded, but are for specific spending purposes and fluctuate from year-to-year depending upon State budgeting.

This year, we expect the state to make mid-year budget cuts to close the budget deficit, which was not entirely resolved by the July budget compromise. When that occurs, state revenue will be reduced from $750,000 to an unknown amount.

While the classroom format will be somewhat different this year, our children's access to an excellent education is unchanged. Fiscal solvency is a priority--the Board will not run our schools at a deficit. The District has prioritized the classroom teachers and our enrichment classes. The blueprint for Board decisions is the newly revised Strategic Plan. Every dollar spent by the District is in accordance with the goals of the Strategic Plan.

We have fewer classroom aides, less aide time in the K-5th grade classrooms, but the quality of education is unchanged. The biggest change is the need for parents to provide the funding once provided by the state.

As a result of the weak economy, there is a perfect storm of funding constraints in our District:

· Increasing enrollment--our enrollment is now 1088, up from 1006 last year. However, the District doesn't receive any additional money to educate these additional kids.
· Increasing salary and benefits expenses.
· A sharp decline in state revenue (we now receive only $750,000 from the state) as opposed to $1 million last year. Next year, our state funding will be reduced even further.
· Flat property tax revenues-- due to property reassessments, our property tax revenues are only slightly higher than last year. In the past, the District has relied on robustly increasing property tax revenues to fund increasing costs of salaries and benefits.
· Reduced parent income
· Reduced community resources--local businesses are feeling the effects of the slowed economy.

The Governor's Office warns that the budget crisis in California will last for the next three years. Our only option for preserving the excellent quality of our schools is to increase our community fundraising.

Superintendent Mary Jo Pettegrew worked diligently to eliminate all possible expenditures and to make sure that every dollar coming into our District goes toward improving the education of our kids. As a last resort, some instructional aides and administrative personnel have been laid off. No classroom teachers were laid off, and the core curriculum--including our rich enrichment program--remains intact. Class size remains about the same.

This is extraordinary compared with other California schools. As examples of the Districtıs new frugality, the District now cuts the lawns every other week, reduced secretarial positions, reduced routine substitute teacher pay and deferred purchasing new textbooks.

Our Board of Trustees and Superintendent acted proactively, beginning in January 2008, to address the impending school budget crisis. The District's priorities are to deliver the best possible education for our children with available funding, with these priorities:

· Fiscal solvency--the Board will not run our schools at a deficit.
· Strategic Plan--every dollar spent by the District is in accordance with the goals of the Strategic Plan.
· Efficiency--every dollar spent must promote education

The District made tiered budget cuts, as information became available about potential funding;
· In January 2009, the District cut $343,000 from the budget.
· In July 2009, the District cut an additional $612,000, including lay-offs of 22 instructional aides and administrative personnel.
· The details of these cuts are on the District website. www.kentfieldschools.org
· Because of ruthless cost-cutting by our Superintendent and Board of Trustees, and enthusiastic donations from our parents through kik, in August 2009 the District was able to rehire aides for grades K-5, at a cost of $200,000.
· We were also able to hire a new teacher, while many Districts were laying them off.

The Bottom Line:
· No classroom teachers were laid off
· All enrichment programs remained as an integral part of District curriculum
· Class size remains essentially unchanged
· While the classroom format will be somewhat different this year due to reduced aide time, our children's access to an excellent education is unchanged.

The District reinstated 21 classroom aides, approved the hiring of an additional 5th grade teacher and reinstated the District Office business services position to full time.

Classsroom aides: Each kindergarten and first grade classroom will have its own aide, and 2nd through 5th grades will each share two aides per grade. The grade level teams will have discretion as to how best to use the aides to assist the teachers in delivery of the curriculum.

Bacich PE: The Bacich Physical Education Assistant was reinstated.

Enrichment classes: As a result of prudent budget cutting and support from kik, the District was able to maintain small class sizes and the excellent core education (including art, music, PE, woodshop and drama taught by credentialed teachers) that is the hallmark of a Kentfield education.

No.

The only option for increasing our school budget is through parent and community donations to kik. No other government funding is available. The District is just entering its third year of Basic Aid funding and does not have sufficient reserves to fund this deficit.