CUSD's Multi-Pronged Approach to Balancing It's Budget - Protects Employee Compensation and Unfairly Cuts Student Services

The Capistrano Unified School District has been forced to cut $130 million from its budget since 2008. 

The District uses a multi-prong approach to dealing with Budget deficits. This approach assumes that cuts start with unilateral cuts to non- negotiated items; and then, only looks to negotiated cuts from employee groups if needed. The District has used this approach for several years, and until the 2012 election year it would have been very difficult for parents and the public to understand how unfair this approach is to students. The effect of Prop 30 on District budgets made it very clear how the cuts that are publicized ("Disclosed to the Public") at Budget Adoption, are not necessarily what cuts are actually made. When budgets are amended at each Interim report it turns out that the cuts to employee salaries disclosed to the public, are never actually implemented. This is a fundamentally flawed approach to addressing CUSD's budget shortfalls. 

This approach protects employee compensation at the expense of everything else (core educational programs, class sizes, decreases in instructional time, and deferring maintenance). 

This approach is the reason that the Districts Projected Ratio of Unrestricted Salaries and Benefits to Total Unrestricted General Fund Expenditures was projected to be 114% in 2012-2013, and is why the District implemented an Early Retirement Plan...  to reduce salary expense.

In 2012 the District was facing cuts of $51 million if Governor Browns Proposition 30 failed and cuts of $30 million if the initiative passed.

CUSD identified $11 million in Unilateral

(Non-negotiated) Cuts

Unilateral- Non-Negotiated Reductions = $11 million

• Management (CUMA) $1.5 million 
• Classified (CSEA) $3.5 million
• Certificated (CUEA) $3.5 million
• Redirect Categorical Funding $1.1 million 
• Other area of savings $1.4 million

The District identified $39.7 million in Negotiated Concessions:

Increase Class Size by 2 all grades saves  $ 8.2 million

Freeze Salary Schedule Advancement $ 2.7 million

• Management (CUMA) $ 162,796 
• Classified (CSEA) $ 932,554 
• Certificated (CUEA)  $1,432,144
• Teamsters $ 207,044

8 Furlough Days All Employees $9 million

• CUMA: 6 current + 2 New = 8 Total 
• CSEA: 0 current + 8 New = 8 Total  
• CUEA: 3 current + 5 New = 8 Total 
• Teamsters: 4 current + 4 New = 8 Total

8% Salary Rollback all employees = $19.8 million 

• CUMA 1.2 current + 6.8 New = 8%
• CSEA 0.0 current + 8.0 New = 8%
• CUEA 1.0 current + 4.3 New = 8%
• Teamsters 3.7 current + 4.3 New = 8%

Note: * The “current” salary rollbacks were from the 2010 Strike where employees were forced to take concessions- these are not "newly negotiated concessions".

Total Identified Cuts %51 million 

• $11 million in unilateral cuts
• $39.7 million negotiated concessions

PROP 30 Passed – CUSD had to implement $30 million in budget cuts.

Using the "Multi- pronged approach - the District automatically implemented all $11 million in unilateral (non-negotiated cuts) then looked for $19 million in employee concessions. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to have looked at all the identified cuts together to decide where $30 million should have been cut?

So how was the $19 million in budget concessions actually made:

Savings from Class Size increase: $ 6.4 million
 (Increase class size 1.5 students all grades) 

Freeze Salary Schedule Advancement: $ 2.7 million

• Management (CUMA)  $ 162,796
• Classified (CSEA) $ 932,554 
• Certificated (CUEA) $1,432,144 
• Teamsters $ 207,044

8 Furlough Days All Employees $9 million

• CUMA 6 current + 2 New = 8 Total 
• CSEA 0 current + 8 New = 8 Total 
• CUEA 3 current + 5 New = 8 Total
• Teamsters 4 current + 4 New = 8 Total

Salary Rollback all employees = $ .9 million “current”  *No New Salary Rollbacks

• CUMA: 3.7 current
• CSEA: -0- current 
• CUEA: 1.2 current 
• Teamsters 1.0 current

CUSD Chose Not To Implement $18.9 Million in “NEW” Salary Rollbacks.

“New” Salary Rollback all employees = $18.9 million 

• Management (CUMA) 6.8%
• Classified (CSEA) 8.0%
• Certificated (CUEA) 4.3%
• Teamsters 4.3%

The District could have chosen to implement $18.9 million in Salary rollbacks but chose instead to:

Preserve Employee Compensation:

• No Salary Rollbacks

• $11 million in Unilateral Cuts

In Summary- The salary schedule is always protected. Everything else is cut first. 

Itemization of $130 million in cuts can be found at this link: http://sanjuancapistrano.patch.com/groups/eye-on-education/p/cusd-wrecking-ball--what-does-130-milli...