Prop. 30 stabilizes Yuba-Sutter schools' finances

School administrators remain cautious about district finances, despite the passage of a state law that funnels increased tax money into the education system.

For the most part, budgets in local school districts are — and are projected to remain — stable. Interim reports for almost every district in Yuba-Sutter received "positive" certification, meaning they expect to meet their financial obligations for the current and two subsequent fiscal years.

Part of this can be attributed to the passage of Proposition 30, which temporarily raises the state sales tax and increases the income tax on California residents who make more than $250,000 a year. A large portion of the money generated from the increase goes to education, but administrators aren't convinced that it is the answer for which they have been looking.

"We're not out of the woods," said Linda Protine, superintendent of administration services for the Sutter County schools. "I know a lot of people thought things would all be resolved, but they're not."

Uncertainties about the financial future of Yuba-Sutter school districts have arisen from four years of substantial funding cuts — a time when dozens programs got chopped as district officials scrambled to balance their budgets. Layoffs were rampant.

Sutter County schools are no longer laying off employees, but Proposition 30 doesn't give them additional funds to hire back staff either, Protine said. The law only offsets the cuts for which districts were planning.

Still, Proposition 30 does help.

"Without (Proposition 30), these cuts would've been pretty devastating," she said.

Sutter County Superintendent Bill Cornelius praised the proposition at a Yuba City Unified School District board meeting last month. Without it, Sutter County's schools alone would have immediately received a $9.1 million cut.

"What it does is it stops the bleeding," he said in November. "That's huge in our school system."

CONTACT Griffin Rogers at grogers@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4783. Find him on Facebook at /ADgriffinrogers or on Twitter at @ADgriffinrogers.