Compared with the late 1990s, when budget surpluses allowed for blanket 10 percent raises, this year's $38 billion state budget shortfall has sent school districts throughout California into a tailspin of spending cuts.

Across San Diego County, teachers have been laid off, art programs scrapped and schools closed.

Even veteran superintendents who slogged through the budget crises of the 1970s and 1980s say the magnitude of school budget cuts is unprecedented.

And with legislators missing the constitutional deadline to pass the state budget, school districts here and across the state may be unable to pay basic bills for programs like class reduction and special education.

"The Legislature has a constitutional financial responsibility that they have violated," said Don Shelton, superintendent of business services at the county Office of Education. "If a state budget is not adopted by September, then our districts are going to have serious problems."

Compounding the dilemma is that two bond-rating services, Standard & Poor's Rating Services and Moody's Investor Services, are reviewing California's credit rating, which is already the lowest of all states.

Moody's warned that a "prolonged delay" in reaching a budget agreement could downgrade California from A2 to "the Baa category," which is regarded as junk-bond status.

Bankers said if there is no budget by July 15, a $3 billion loan needed by the state in late August or early September may be delayed.

For school districts, the money hang-up could mean scarce supplies, cuts in contract work to repair and maintain classrooms and less business with vendors who may not be paid.

Creative financing
Educators like Ronald Bennett have attributed state budget woes to Enron-style accounting in Sacramento. Bennett, of School Services of California, hosts budget workshops for struggling districts. He said that legislators have not made tough choices but instead have opted for creative financing by moving funds around to make balance sheets look better.
"Can cuts to education get worse?" he asked. "The answer is yes."

The state's worst budget crisis is taking a toll on every district in the county.

San Diego Unified will operate with $65 million less next year but has avoided laying off teachers. No schools have been closed.

But in East and North County, campuses have been shut down. Santee School in Santee and Eucalyptus Hills in Lakeside closed because shrinking student populations meant reduced state revenue, and Pacific View Elementary in Encinitas closed because its small population and campus size made it too expensive to maintain.

The Grossmont Union High School District spared its teaching staff but warned that class sizes could increase. To shore up an $8 million deficit, 48 classified positions were cut for an estimated $960,000 in savings out of Grossmont's 2003-04 budget of nearly $174 million.

The district, East County's largest with 24,400 students, has taken a wait-and-see approach, not wanting to make deep cuts until legislators approve the state budget.

'It's a mess out there'
A veteran of school finances, Jim Stark, who has been in education for 22 years, has never seen a state budget look this bad.
"It's a mess out there," said the assistant superintendent of business services for the La Mesa-Spring Valley school district. "This has pushed more districts to the brink.

The kindergarten-through-eighth-grade district may for the first time in its 71 years dip into its reserve, he said.

In North County, to trim $4 million, the Oceanside Unified School District laid off 36 teachers and 44 other certificated employees.

Poway Unified has cut staff, raised transportation fees and changed bus routes to cut about $14 million. The district eliminated about 40 teacher positions, including reading specialists, music teachers and teachers on special assignment who worked on curriculum or other projects.

The district also has eliminated jobs or reduced hours for about 300 classified employees, including classroom aides, clerks and custodians.

Classrooms and campuses will not be as neat and clean as they were last year now that the district has reduced its custodial, grounds and maintenance staff by 41 positions.

San Diego City Schools sent layoff notices to 429 full-time employees, which would have meant $27.5 million in salary and benefits savings. But the district offered an early retirement program and about 1,400 employees participated, so fewer layoffs are anticipated. The district has yet to determine how many will leave.

City schools also cut high school interscholastic athletics by 10 percent, leaving which sports to be cut up to each school. Start times have also been modified.

When a district staggers school start times, the same buses can be sent on more routes, reducing the number of drivers and buses.

In Oceanside, busing is being eliminated for most middle and high school students, affecting about 5,000. About 80 bus routes will be scrapped and 19 drivers have been laid off, as well as five bus attendants and a parts clerk. The move will save more than $1.5 million.

Busing also will be eliminated in the Solana Beach and Encinitas Union school districts.

On the chopping block
While most districts have avoided closing schools, some have dismantled entire programs.
Oceanside elementary schools cut general music programs to save about $250,000 a year.

In Poway, parent donations saved a portion of the fifth-grade music program, which was slated for elimination. Thanks to a push by high school band booster groups, an anonymous $50,000 matching donation and a district campaign to raise funds, at least four music teachers will be funded for next year.

The kindergarten-through-eighth-grade Santee school district cut its instrumental music program in the fifth through eighth grades.

Lisa Klopp is one of the music teachers looking for work.

For two weeks she has literally been sitting on the steps of other districts' offices to get her résumé in the door.

Klopp worries that underprivileged kids will be denied the opportunity to discover new talents if administrators cut more arts programs. Cutting music at the middle school level also will deplete high school bands because novice freshman, who are disinclined to begin instruction, are typically embarrassed to start with "Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Kids who take a bus to school will see changes in routes.

Students who ride school buses in Ramona Unified will see longer ride times, fewer bus stops and higher bus fees as part of an effort to shave about $200,000 from the budget. Bus fees will rise between 8 percent and 10 percent.

The South Bay Elementary district laid off 48 certificated employees for a savings of $1.7 million. To trim about $11.1 million from a $281 million budget, the district cut spending in other areas.

For instance, district office budgets were cut 10 percent across all departments for a savings of $300,000. Although unpopular with teachers and some students, Sweetwater Union High School District cut the class size reduction program for ninth-grade English classes. The move will increase freshman English classes from 20 to 31 students and is expected to save $900,000 annually.

The district's work experience program, which helps students obtain work permits, lost most of its funding. The program no longer will have a classroom component and the work that was done by counselors will now be done by clerical staff or software programs.

Trustees also eliminated transportation for students who want to attend another school for a specialized program, such as the School of Creative and Performing Arts at Chula Vista High. That saved $228,000. Sweetwater will also stagger school start times to lower transportation costs by $150,000.

Instead of starting at 7:45 a.m., students attending Cajon Valley Union School District's five middle schools next year will start at 9 a.m. The district, facing $7 million in cuts, expects to save nearly $320,000 in maintenance, fuel and personnel costs under the new schedule, said Wayne Oetken, assistant superintendent of business services.

Jennifer Norling is one of eight laid-off bus drivers in Cajon Valley.

"I have three kids at home," she said. "But you've got to look at in a positive way. My boyfriend is a tile layer so as long as he stays steady, I'm not too worried."

It is harder for administrators to be as worry-free.

"The thing that has us concerned is that we don't see an immediate turn-around in the economy and even when the economy does turn around, it's going to be a while before that is recognized as income to the state," said Shelton, of the county Office of Education. "I think 2004-2005 could be equally bad."