San Carlos Elementary School District faces $2.5M budget gap

Superintendent Michelle Harmeier said the district is down about 100 students from projected enrollment levels last year, which officials believe is generated by families leaving the area due to high cost of living.

Harmeier said the district, which is funded primarily by state allocations according to average daily attendance rather than local property taxes, is viewing the budget trimming as an opportunity to exercise some belt tightening.

“This will increase our efficiency and overall we will be a stronger program because we will have to evaluate how everything is going,” she said.

Cutting spending on physical education and music programs, reducing the amount of teachers, administrators and other support personnel and increasing class sizes by a couple students in the higher grades are among the cost savings examined.

She noted the teacher reductions will likely be achieved through natural attrition, as officials are not planning to release any classroom personnel to balance the budget.

“The goal is to keep cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, and that’s always my goal,” said Harmeier. “But every reduction you make will impact the levels of support, so we need to be very thoughtful about that.”

Officials are also looking to generate more revenue by adding a couple of preschool classes, increasing facility rental rates as well as potentially moving the district office and renting the vacated property.

She noted a portion of the district’s need for more income will be addressed by the parent and community foundation, which last year donated about $2.2 million to San Carlos schools, roughly the same amount generated by the district’s parcel tax.

Such contributions are essential for the district which does not qualify to sustain itself based on local property taxes, while also ineligible for the additional support offered by the state to districts comprised of a student population with substantial needs, said Harmeier.

As a result, Harmeier said officials need to fill the $2.5 million budget hole over the next couple years — a majority of which will be addressed in the first year, when $2.1 million of fixes are slated to be approved. In all, the $2.5 million in improvements amounts to 6 percent of the district’s $38 million budget.

Harmeier said she expects officials to discuss the budget at the upcoming session, then pass a plan for addressing the issue later this month which must be sent to the county Office of Education for approval, in advance of finalizing the budget in June.

A portion of the district’s financial hardship is also generated by the increased pension obligation and health care costs school systems are facing across the state, said Harmeier. Also, she said the state’s public school funding formula is inadequate to address the rising operational costs.

But the essence of the district’s current dilemma is generated by enrollment suddenly dropping to 3,065 students this year, she said.

“We expected a little decline, but not 100 students,” said Harmeier, who said the dip stems from either families selling their homes and moving to more affordable areas or renters leaving due to the high cost of living.

She said the issue is common among many other Bay Area school districts where enrollments are declining for similar reasons. To that end, the Redwood City Elementary School District was recently forced to close campuses due to inadequate amount of students.

Noting the comparison to the neighboring district, Harmeier said the issue in San Carlos is not as dire.

“We are just belt-tightening and trimming,” she said. “This is not a crisis.”

The San Carlos Elementary School District Board of Trustees meets for a budget study session 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14, in the board room, 1200 Industrial Road, unit 9B.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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