Bear Valley Unified School District Needs to Make More Budget Cuts

The Budget Advisory Committee of the Bear Valley Unified School District has been asked to gather for a series of meetings to once again review the School District’s budget and make recommendations as to what costs can be cut.  The Governor’s proposed mid-year budget cuts for the current year and proposed state budget for the year 2009-2010 incorporates cuts of approximately $3.2 billion to Kindergarten through High School education statewide.  According to Walter Con, Director of Business for the School District, $890,000 needs to be cut from the current school budget to enable the district to remain static.  These cuts are on top of budget cuts that were already made last year.  Since less than 5 months remain in this school year, the revised budget will have to be made using a combination of budget cuts and dipping into the District’s reserve funds.  According to School Superintendent Carole Ferraud, some of the areas the District will need to look at for cutting costs include the elimination of class size reduction, furloughs, certified and classified staff and sports programs.  As enrollment continues to drop at a rate of 1.3% yearly, Ms. Ferraud adds that at some point, we may need to close a school.  The next meeting of the Budget Advisory Committee is this Thursday, January 29^th at 2pm at the School District offices located at 42271 Moonridge Road in Big Bear Lake.