Hemet Unified School District directors adopted a $200 million budget last week that will produce a $16.7-million deficit for fiscal 2014-15, which begins July 1. The current-year budget also has a projected $5.2-million deficit. By fiscal year 2015-16, HUSD believes the two years of losses will be reversed.<\/p>\n
Next year\u2019s $203.4-million budget is nearly $27.6 million greater than the 2013-14 budget that ends June 30. These deficits will reduce the district\u2019s reserves from $35.4 million at the end of fiscal 2011-12 to $14 million at the end of 2014-15.<\/p>\n
The new budget assumes a 4-percent salary increase, similar to the 4 percent last year, and a $1,500-per-employee increase for health and welfare benefits. However, HUSD and the Hemet Teachers Association have not signed an agreement for the coming year.<\/p>\n
While HUSD had planned to increase its contribution to the State Teachers Retirement System by 1.25 percent this year \u2014 to a total of 9.5 percent \u2014 the revisions to the state budget mandate 1.85 percent annual increases until 2020-21 when all districts will contribute 19.1 percent to Cal STRS.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis could take all the new money we were expecting,\u201d said Vince Christakos, assistant su- perintendent for Business Services. \u201cWe\u2019re currently contributing $8.3 million and it will go to $17.9 million if there is no change in salary costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
HUSD also is planning to hire 55 new teachers for 2014-15 and about 13 more the following year. The intent is to lower class sizes throughout the district. The new local control funding sets a goal of 24 students per teacher in kindergarten\u00a0 through third grade and\u00a031:1 in the higher grades.<\/span><\/p>\n Overall, the district is projecting total enrollment declining for the eighth consecutive year. The 2014-15 projected enrollment of 20,707 students is about 9 percent less than the peak in 2006-07.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause Idyllwild\u2019s K-3 class sizes were already at or below 24:1 on average in the base year of 2012-13, the target class size for its K-3 classes is 24:1,\u201d said Pamela Buckout, director of Financial Services.\u00a0\u201cThe student-teacher ratio for Idyllwild\u2019s grades four through eight is 31:1, which is the same as other district schools.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, hours for school library technicians were returned to the levels before staff cuts several years ago. This year, HUSD plans to hire full-time library technicians for each high school.<\/p>\n Other projected increases for 2014-15 include $2.2 million for computers, $1 million for middle-school and high-school athletic programs, and $400,000 for expanding music programs.<\/p>\n One potential issue was the legislative initiative to set a limit on school districts\u2019 reserves. It is now tied to the Rainy Day proposition to be on the November ballot. The proposal would cap reserves at 6 percent of the operating budget. The current minimum is 3 percent.<\/p>\n \u201cOur board policy is 5 percent,\u201d Christakos said. \u201cSo this doesn\u2019t give us much local control in case of another economic downturn.\u201d<\/p>\n In August, financial staff will revise the budget projections to account for the changes resulting from the recently enacted state budget for 2014-15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hemet Unified School District directors adopted a $200 million budget last week that will produce a $16.7-million deficit for fiscal 2014-15, which begins July 1. The current-year budget also has a projected $5.2-million deficit. By fiscal year 2015-16, HUSD believes the two years of losses will be reversed. Next year\u2019s $203.4-million budget is nearly $27.6 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"amp_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n