Propped-up budget passed

An $82 million budget that "looks pretty good until you remember we're propping it up with all that one-time federal stimulus money" has won adoption by Marysville Joint Unified School District trustees.

"There are significant dollars coming our way," Mark Allgire, assistant superintendent for business services told trustees. "They basically hold us for a year."

The federal funds, Allgire said before the budget won trustees' approval last week, "have to be spent by what's jokingly being referred to as 9-11."

That's Sept. 30, 2011 — the end of the federal fiscal year, Allgire said.

The assistant superintendent said he's concerned about the next budget "when the federal money disappears."

Allgire also said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has revived a proposed reduction in the number of days in the school year.

The cut could mean up to seven fewer days, or a total of 173 days of instruction, Allgire said.

If approved by California lawmakers, "the state will then promptly tell the news media that schools can reduce their school year by seven days and save all that money," he added.

"They won't mention that it's all subject to collective bargaining," Allgire said of contracts with teachers and staff. "And the state can't unilaterally change that."

"I would speculate that if they tried, the courts would overrule that," Allgire said.

Marysville Joint Unified is not considering reducing the number of school days from the present 180, the assistant superintendent said.

Trustee Margie Markle said after Allgire's review of the Marysville school district finances — amid cuts in education funding by the state — that, "I just don't get it."

"The state doesn't seem to care a bit about our kids," Markle said. "Our kids are suffering and I think it's just disgraceful."

Superintendent Gay Todd said, "the good news is that when you're ranked 50 out of the 50 states for educational funding, you can't get much lower."

Contact Appeal reporter Ryan McCarthy at 749-4707 or rmccarthy@appealdemocrat.com.