By Katie Lulla
Manhattan Beach Unified School District Deputy Superintendent Dr. Dawnalyn Murakawa-Leopard presented the 2019 district budget report on Jan. 15 reporting the $4,117,249 deficit and the reductions that can be made to the 2020 budget.
According to MBUSD Deputy Superindent, Murakawa-Leopard, the highest expenditures are the rising costs of personnel and Special Education. To balance this, MBUSD has made reductions in other areas such as professional development, supplies and overtime budget over the last seven years.
“We don’t fix ourselves because our expense continues to increase at a faster rate than our revenue,” Murakawa-Leopard said. “We will continue to address this problem then continue to find ourselves in this same situation again unless something structurally changes for us.”
MBUSD plans to reduce the 2020-2021 budget by $3,949,274 to offset the rising expenses said Murakawa-Leopard. According to Murakawa-Leopard, staffing is the highest expenditure and about 30 layoffs are predicted. Outside of employees, significant areas of reductions are zero period, education specialists and counseling.
“You could call these programs extras, but I think most here at Manhattan Beach most would agree they are an essential part of what we do,” MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said. “They are the fabric of our school district and therefore nothing is easy with any of these things.”
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