By Jamie Kelleher
Staff Writer
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District is continuing its revisions of the budget for the current school year and the next two years, based on federal, state and local revenues.
The Board of Trustees approved this school year’s updated version of the First Interim Budget in January. The state offered less funding than expected, but it is still an increase from last year due to increased student enrollment in MBUSD. The total projected revenue limit, the amount of state funding provided, for this year is $41,973,678.
“The budget situation right now is not exactly perfect,” MBUSD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Rick Bagley said. “At least the state is showing that some money is coming in. That usually means that there is more money for our school district.”
The district is now focusing on reporting the Second Interim Budget, which the Board passed in June of 2013, and covers finances from October of 2013 to January. According to Bagley, the report of the spending is projected to stay close to the initial budget due to the stability of the California budget.
“Unlike the 2011-12 budget, the 2013-14 one is not dependent upon unrealistic revenue projections,” Bagley said in a presentation.
California Governor Jerry Brown’s budget proposal for 2014 includes a $6.9 million tax measure, which, if voter approved, will maintain state funding at 2011-12 pre-trigger-cut levels. This proposal also includes heavy reductions on expenditures which would save the district a projected $535,000 per year.
“If the budget is adopted, as the governor has proposed it, it would bring us closer to the amount of funding that we had back in 2007,” Board President Karen Komatinisky said.
At this point, MBUSD does not plan on reducing any expenditures for the 2014-15 school year, and it is considering the possibility of raising wages for staff members.
“We are looking forward to seeing how we can best address our current employees,” MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said.
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