ABC School Board Faces Millions in Budget Cuts for 2012-13 School Year

The ABC School Board reconvened last week for its second meeting of the month and discussed the possibility of more budget cuts for the upcoming year.

Proposed Budget Contingency Plan For 2012-13

Chief Financial Officer, Toan Nguyen, delivered the unwelcomed report after Superintendent Gary Smuts opened the item with a less-than-comforting tone.

“There's bad news, and there's worse news,” Smuts said. “This may be the greatest challenge we're going to face.”

Nguyen reported an (up-to) $7.4 million budget cut in the upcoming year unless a tax proposal is passed. The proposal will spare the additional cuts, but people making more than $250,000 a year, or $500,000, will see an increase in income tax.

“This is going to be a tough year yet for public education,” Nguyen said. “It's not easy, but we'll get through this.”

Nguyen also said that a possible reduction of three weeks worth of school days may occur.

Selected Dates on the Communication Timeline For the Contingency Plan:

• Jan. 5, 2012: Governor Brown released his budget proposal for the 2012-2013 fiscal year
• Jan. 23, 2012: A budget report is presented to the Board of Education, along with a timeline and process for a proposed budget contingency plan
• Jan. 19-31, 2012: Staff to develop a proposed budget and a budget contingency plan
• March 6, 2012: Proposed budget and budget contingency plan will be presented to the Board of Education for approval
• March 7, 2012: Approved budget and budget contingency plan will be communicated to schools and community
• May 14, 2012: The Governor releases the May Revise 
• June 26, 2012: The Board of Education will approve the 2012-13 budget and contingency plan, with update from the Governor's May Revise

Additional News:

-- Patrick Gordon, a History and Economics teacher at , was honored for receiving the Jaime Escalante AP Award from the Western Regional Office of the College Board for his role in connecting students to success on Advanced Placement exams.

-- A resolution was passed, regarding Board member Armin Reyes' call to active military duty. Subsequently, Reyes was absent from the meeting.

-- The children of the ABC Adult School students who are taking Parent Education Class sang a song and handed out red envelopes to commemorate the Chinese new Year.

The next school board meeting will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 7.