OUSD’s budget hole
You’ve probably read that the Oakland school district is projecting a $37 million deficit in next year’s roughly $250 million general purpose fund.
What you might not know is that new state funding cuts — those expected to go into place for 2010-11 — only account for $8 million of the school district’s budget problem. Declining enrollment and/or attendance? Another million.
The remaining $26 million represents ongoing costs that have been previously covered with one-time funds or transferred from one pot to another (such as adult education), CFO Vernon Hal explained to me in an interview today.
“We have to get our expenses in line,” Hal said. This year, he said, “We’re spending $26 million more in expenses than we have in revenue.”
