BVUSD’s Budget Committee Reviews Suggestions as $673,000 Will Be Cut from Annual Budget

At the second of three Budget Advisory Committee meetings of the Bear Valley Unified School District on February 5th, committee members received some good news regarding mid-year state mandated budget cuts.  However, the task of eliminating the new figure of $673,000 from fiscal year 2009-2010 still leaves little to be happy about. A half dozen of the roughly 35 attendees to the meeting addressed the committee with concerns as to how students and classified and certificated personnel will be affected by such a large budget cut. That is the question that remains to be answered. Committee members, along with district staff, will need to make recommendations at this week’s Budget Advisory Committee meeting to be presented to the School Board by staff. Potential budget reductions discussed include an across-the-board salary cut of all management, classified and certificated personnel. The District has been in discussions with the two unions, the BVEA and CSEA, who represent some staff members. Other areas that will be scrutinized include eliminating class size reduction; Big Bear High School athletic programs; management, certificated and classified furloughs; and, ultimately, the possibility of lay-offs. The timeline for presenting recommendations to the School Board includes the initial presentation on February 17th with a subsequent follow-up presentation on February 23rd. Budget cuts need to be submitted to the County on March 11th. Budget Committee meetings are open to the public. The final meeting will be this Thursday, February 12 at 6pm at North Shore Elementary School.