Schools
Mount Diablo School Board Weighs Budget Reductions
Agenda includes a memo outlining the possibility of a $99 parcel tax.
The Mount Diablo school board is tightening its fiscal suspenders, and a staff memo of budget reduction recommendations outlines measures the board is considering.
The board of the Mount Diablo Unified School District meets at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in open session after a scheduled closed session at 6 p.m. to discuss negotiations, litigation, expulsions and employee discipline. The meeting is at the board room at the Dent Center, 1936 Carlotta Drive, Concord.
The staff memo puts forth the possibility of a $99 parcel tax that could generate $7.4 million. The board could approve placing such a parcel tax on the ballot, with the cost of an election tagged at $250,000 or more. It would need a two-thirds vote to be approved.
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To look over the memo, go to this link. What follows is an excerpt:
- There are various cuts to special education. The district estimates savings of $1.18 million from a reduction of all special ed resource assistants to less than half time (37.5 percent), which puts the “hours of support” by these assistants more in line with staffing levels at other districts in the county, the memo states. Furthermore, the district estimates $400,000 in savings through a reorganization and consolidation of services for children with special ed and mental health needs, including the establishment of a single site for day treatment education and mental health services in the district.
- There’s an estimated savings of $387,795 by moving six general maintenance workers to be financed by Measure A funds.
- The district estimates a savings of $827,106 from maximizing furlough days negotiated with bargaining units.
The cover memo on the budget documents states a recommendation of $250,000 for athletics in 2011-12. An attached document identifies “reductions in transportation, maintenance and facilities costs,” arrived at after an analysis of the athletic program with the United Mount Diablo Athletic Foundation and the Athletic Advisory Committee.