As a school board member we have numerous responsibilities. One primary responsibility is to oversee the school district's budget and maintain a positive rating from the County Office of Education resulting in sound fiscal health. Whenever the budget does not meet specified criteria, the County Office of Education issues a qualiifed or negative certification of a District Budget. Here is a list of Statewide Negative and Qualified Districts as of March, 2005.

Alameda County Office of Education Financial Recap of School Districts 2005-06
Alameda County Office of Education Financial Recap of School Districts 2006-07

The complexities of a school district's budget are immense. At the highest level, the Board of Education is responsible to insure that the district can operate from year to year without going bankrupt. To monitor this responsibility, the Board of Education reviews and approves financial reports while monitoring a number of other indicators.

• AUSD 2008/09 Approved Budget
• AUSD 2007/08 Approved Budget / First Interim 2007/08 / Second Interim 2007/08 / Third Interim 2007/08
• AUSD 2006/07 Approved Budget / First Interim 2006/07 / Second Interim 2006/07 / Third Interim 2006/07
• AUSD 2005/06 Budget and Interim Reports
• AUSD 2004/05 Budget and Interim Reports
• AUSD 2003/04 Budget and Interim Reports
• AUSD 2002/03 Budget and Interim Reports
• 10 Year Financial Data for AUSD

Each year AUSD is required to develop a new budget for the coming year that is based on complicated funding streams. Here is the timeline for a Budget Development Calendar. The Budget Building Blocks is an overview of the budget development process. The major revenue source for any school district is amount of money (base revenue limit per student) each district receives from the State based on average daily attendance (ADA). Here is a revenue limit comparison of how Alameda compares to other school districts in Alameda county.

Since taking office in Janaury, 2003, California has been experiencing a budget crisis. In fact, after his November, 2002 reelection, Governor Davis initially announced a budget deficit exceeding $20 billion that grew to $34 billion when he submitted his budget in January. As a result, each year there have been state and local implications:

• 2003 State Budget Crisis
• 2003 AUSD Budget Developments
• 2004 State Budget Crisis
• 2004 AUSD Budget Developments
• 2005 State Budget Crisis
• 2005 AUSD Budget Developments
• 2006 State Budget Crisis
• 2006 AUSD Budget Developments
• 2007 State Budget Crisis
• 2007 AUSD Budget Developments
• 2008 State Budget Crisis
• 2008 AUSD Budget Developments

• 2005/06 Budget Reductions Overview
• 2006/07 Budget Reductions Overview
• 2007/08 Budget Reductions Overview
• 2008/09 Budget Reductions Overview

Beyond the State budget problems, Alameda has been experiencing declining enrollment (2007 Report on Statewide Declining Enrollment). Loss of students has a direct impact on the amount or revenue the District receives. Combined with lowered State funding due to the State budget woes, Alameda has made budget reductions in 2001 ($1.6 million) 2003 ($1.7 million), 2005 ($1.6 million) 2006 ($800,000) and 2007 ($1.4 million). Only with the passage of Measure A and Measure H has Alameda been able to maintain programs like class size reduction for grades K-3 and maintain small schools.

Here is a basic primer on public education finances along with CA public education legislative history including the Serrano Decision and Prop 98. In 2000, the Public Policy Institute of California prepare a 200 page review of public education financing in California. Cailfornians pay slightly more then then national average in state and local taxes with most recent comprehensive data from 2005 showing California above average tax burden. Here is an updated look at California tax sources published in October, 2007. Over the last 35 years the fiscal relationship between state and local governments has changed.

As the move to standards based accountability progresses, the courts and legislature are getting stuck in the middle between poor and wealthy school districts. So how do we level the playing field... in the courts or in the legislature? There are four competing models used for determining adequate school funding that give a wide ranges of costs for educating our children. In a 2005 decision, a New York court ruled the state should spend an additional $14 billion on educating New York city students. In 2007, "Getting Down to Facts (GDTF): A Research Project to Inform Solutions to California's Education Problems", was released after bipartisan group of leaders including the Governor Schwarzenegger, Senate Leader Perata, Assembly Leader Nunez and State Superintendent O'Connell requested a study of public edcuation funding (sometimes referred to as the adequacy studies) in California.

Comments. Questions. Broken links? Bad spelling! Incorrect Grammar? Let me know at webmaster.
Last modified: November 22, 2005

Disclaimer: This website is the sole responsibility of Mike McMahon. It does not represent any official opinions, statement of facts or positions of the Alameda Unified School District. Its sole purpose is to disseminate information to interested individuals in the Alameda community.