Cupertino Union School District is inching closer to a board vote on cuts as the district faces a budgetary shortfall of about $11 million.
“We really want to establish that pathway of fiscal stability and not having to come back every year and having to make adjustments to our system and make further reductions and spend what we have as far as our resources instead of overspending,” said Allison Liner, deputy superintendent of educational services, at a meeting of the Cupertino Union School District on Nov. 13.
The school district includes 17 elementary schools and five middle schools for grades TK-8, and they include Montclaire Elementary School in Los Altos and Cupertino Middle School in Sunnyvale, which has students from Los Altos.
The district has announced plans to make cuts in middle school electives, transitional kindergarten hours and high-paid employees in order to make up millions in deficit spending. The board may vote on the institution of these changes as early as its meeting on Nov. 20.
The district has been mired in deficit spending and estimates this year about $248 million in revenues. Expenditures are estimated at about $259 million.
The board is considering cutting TK to a half-day class, a savings of about $2.59 million. Other options include a full-day TK class, which would be capped at 360 students, resulting in savings of $3.24 million. The last option is a split-day with classes either in the morning or the evening, resulting in $2.56 million in savings.
The district is also considering giving seventh and eighth-grade students the option of taking a second elective. Sixth-grade students would only take one elective. It would result in a decrease of 18 full -time employees of middle school staff and about $2.1 million in savings.
The district is also proposing early retirement for 475 eligible employees. If all the employees retired by June 30, 2026, it would amount to $1.1 million in savings.
Elsewhere in the area, the financial outlook is mostly rosy, with some concerns about deficit spending at Mountain View Whisman School District.
Erik Walukiewicz, Los Altos School District’s assistant superintendent of business services, said at an Aug. 4 board meeting that the district will have a total revenue of $87.6 million. Their revenues exceed expenditures in the coming budget.
At Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, revenues are expected at $150.1 million this year and expenditures at $146.4 million.
Mountain View Whisman is running a $7.2 million deficit and may face similar cuts. The district has expenditures of $130 million but revenues of about $123 million.
