Budgets cuts amplify need for change in district’s emphasis of importance

By Danny Kelleher
Editor-in-Chief and
Adam Gerard
Opinion Editor

As complicated budgetary figures and pending fiscal woes within the Manhattan Beach Unified School District begin to loom in the distance of the foreseeable years, MBUSD needs to ensure it is prioritizing its assets in an honest, responsible way. Teachers, not books, supplies and buildings, need to be the district’s priority as it moves forward.

On the morning of March 2, MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews sent out an email to district parents, explaining that a reduction in district classified personnel was necessary given that the district ended the year with a $1.1 million budget shortfall and will be taking on an additional $2.8 million in personnel expenditures this year. This comes on top of a loss of $1.2 million in federal funding for the 2012-13 fiscal year. The MBUSD Board of Trustees voted in favor of releasing 24.6 full-time equivalent positions at its Wednesday meeting, and at least four of those will come from Mira Costa.
According to the district, the drastic hike in personnel expenditures has come largely as a result of the teacher contract negotiations from earlier in the school year, which have brought pay raises to certificated and non-certificated staff members district-wide. These cuts and stipulations were all justified in the projected budget presentations at the Feb. 28 and March 6 Board meetings.

But the district’s budgetary transparency, and its inadequate job of focusing on teachers, should gain much more public criticism than it has thus far. In the recent past, the district’s estimates have been unnecessarily overcautious. In the last five years, MBUSD budgets projected a $3,076,846 shortfall when, in fact, the same period saw MBUSD revenues exceed expenditures by $9,210,490.78.

As La Vista has previously noted, this overestimation of deficit often leads to unrestricted spending, and the district should not be so conservative in its speculations. If expenditures were predicted more realistically, teachers would not constantly be subjected to the ordeal of painful budget conflicts. Dragging our teachers through the mud on what is beginning to seem like an annual basis continually threatens the morale of the educators that our students’ success depends on.

But even more ridiculous than MBUSD’s abortive caution is its faulty prioritization. While things like iPads and other technologically advanced supplies would be reasonable investments in a situation where the district was economically thriving, the current fiscal status of MBUSD does not at all warrant such irresponsible allocation of funds.

While money currently going to the “Books and Supplies” category of the budget cannot simply be moved to the “Personnel” section because of restricted donations and grants from Chevron and the PTSA, among others, certain measures to free up funding should be taken by the district administration. The district should negotiate to stop restrictions on community donations in the future. Along with this, the hundreds of dollars so many middle school parents are spending to buy their children iPads could easily be requested to instead go toward the general district fund. While such donations would not have as palpable of rewards as a piece of technology, the indirect effects include smaller classes, higher quality teachers and improved campus morale.

The teachers and employees within this school district are the component of the learning process that undoubtedly matter most, and the neglectful undertakings of the district that have time and again favored supplies over teachers are absurd and deceptive.

While it is important to remember that none of these layoffs are final, the district must remember that teachers matter most. MBUSD’s flawed mindset must change to acknowledge this.