San Bruno Park school board approves budget

“Our number one goal is attracting and retaining staff. I think we need to start working through that and start analyzing it,” Vice President Andriana Shea said during the board’s Wednesday, June 30 meeting.

Explaining her reasoning for previously not supporting the budget, Shea said she was disappointed the board did not receive projections for budget costs of increasing staff pay by 5% to 10%, a direction made during a May budget study session. During the previous June 16 meeting, Shea was told by administrators that the information was confidential because it was part of contract negotiations.

Shea said she also took issue with the expedited budget process that contributed to her part in continuing the budget discussion. Rather than begin the financial planning in May, she pointed to the county’s Board of Education budget schedule, which starts in January as a more ideal process.

Shea also called for the board to consider reinstating its Budget Advisory Committee that would be tasked with routinely reporting out during board meetings about district finances and the budget process.

“My concern with this process was that we really didn’t have time for feedback,” Shea said.

Trustee Jennifer Blanco shared Shea’s support for reinstating the committee stressing the importance of holding a more inclusive planning process that loops in all community stakeholders, particularly those in underserved communities.

Employee pay increases were also a top priority for the trustee who firmly stood against accepting the balanced budget proposal with $32.3 million in revenue and expenditures for the current fiscal year.

Before casting votes, Trustee Henry Sanchez highlighted the importance of passing the budget to avoid the consequences of missing the state’s deadline. If the budget went unpassed, the county superintendent would be prohibited from allocating state and county funds to the school district for the current year, according to California education code.

“If there’s political issues or things you don’t like, this cannot be the time,” Sanchez said. “It’s not worth it to politicize [the budget] and make it a political football at the cost of other people's economic security.”

While arguing in favor of increased employee wages, Trustee Teri Chavez also defended her decision to support the budget during the board’s June 16 meeting. She said she too wanted to avoid any unnecessary consequences that could have resulted in district funds being delayed, stalling payments to employees.

“I’ve been saying at least half a dozen times in the last six months that we need to find a way to pay our teachers and staff more,” Chavez said. “But passing the budget is very critical.”

Ultimately, trustees voted 4-1 to pass the district budget with board President Andy Mason and Shea joining Sanchez and Chavez in supporting the budget after previously dissenting with Blanco.

The vote also comes after community members, educators and trustees rallied in favor of increasing employee pay with educators who claim their salary schedule starting at $39,000 annually and spanning to $61,000 is inadequate.

In other business, the board agreed to add a July meeting to its schedule, typically an off period for the governance team, to discuss policies around parent teacher associations and volunteer relationships and to develop goals for the year to provide to Superintendent Jose Espinoza.

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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