Dear CUHSD Community,
I am very grateful for the work of our employees who have responded remarkably to the current, unprecedented situation by continuing to support students and their families through the distribution of more than 50,000 meals, 500 Chromebooks and 150 wireless hotspots.
While the tremendous good we provide to the community is evident, our future ability to provide the services we are known for are likely under threat. As the shelter-in-place continues, it appears an economic recession is inevitable. The ongoing uncertainties and financial losses due to COVID-19 have impacted the global economy, the state of California, and our local economy as well.
While it is not clear how long this recession will last and how quickly the economy will recover, I am deeply concerned that the impact on our schools will be significant and long-lasting. As we develop the 2020-2021 budget, we must prepare to make difficult decisions in response to a significant reduction in revenue that could last several budget cycles. In addition to a decline in property tax collections, we have been advised to prepare for the possibility that the State of California will take an increased “fair share” of property taxes from community-funded districts like ours. This could equate to a more than 10 million dollar loss per year.
Although we’ve been preparing for an economic downturn for a while now, none of us could have expected the financial situation we find ourselves in today. As our enrollment continues to grow, we will continue exploring our options to further reduce costs for services outside of the classroom including:
- A twenty-six percent reduction in District office managers’ budgets that pay for items such as district-wide staff development, and the district Arts Festivals.
- Eliminating the contract with San Jose PD for School Resource Officers
- Converting athletic director positions from full-time administrators to part-time positions
- Reducing or eliminating teacher release periods for program coordination such as AVID
- Phasing out Counseling and Support Services for Youth (CASSY) counselors
- Eliminating access to courses at the Silicon Valley Career Technical Education (SVCTE) campus
- Districtwide reduction of management and support staff
Despite the serious fiscal challenges coming our way, we remain committed to our purpose: to enable students to construct their futures. We will do everything in our power to provide current students with the essential services they need to graduate while maintaining fiscal solvency for the sake of our future students.
Balancing these two important demands won’t be easy and many of our decisions will be unpopular. As we continue the budget development process, I am committed to providing you with timely information about our fiscal outlook and stabilization plans moving forward. We have created a webpage with the latest information and resources including a budget development timeline and archived board meetings. You can view it by clicking here.
Over the next month, you will also be encouraged to provide input through virtual meetings or surveys. More information will be provided on these input opportunities soon.
Sincerely,
Robert Bravo, Ed.D.
CUHSD Superintendent