LOWER LAKE, Calif. – The Konocti Unified School District Board of Trustees will meet Wednesday evening for a continued discussion on how to craft the coming year's budget in order to deal with $2.8 million in reduced funding.
The meeting will begin with a closed session at 5:30 p.m. in the Carol McClung Conference Center, located at 9430 B Lake St., Lower Lake.
The board will begin open session at 6:15 p.m.
The zero base budget model being crafted by district Superintendent Dr. Bill MacDougall and his administrative staff will be the focus of a board workshop on the 2012-13 budget.
MacDougall's report to the board explains that, despite having cut over $1 million annually from the district's budget every year since 2008-09, Konocti Unified will need to prepare for a $2.8 million cut next year.
That significant amount, according to MacDougall, is in part due to the governor proposing to eliminate the home to school transportation.
“This means that every dollar we spend on transportation next year will need to be offset by either staff reductions and/or elimination of services for students,” his report for the Wednesday meeting said.
Rather than taking the approach used in previous years to making cuts, MacDougall has used a zero base budget process, which he said requires the district “to begin with a vision of the services we want for our students and then to determine what are the minimum services, programs and positions required to achieve that vision. Instead of continually taking pieces off the original structure, we are developing a new foundation (zero base) and building a new structure. In short, we are planning for continued success.”
The board initially discussed the zero base model at a Feb. 1 meeting, as well as a special budget workshop last Saturday, as Lake County News has reported.
MacDougall reported that several question and answer sessions were held with parents, staff and other stakeholders earlier this month to explain the process and address concerns.
The Wednesday agenda calls for the board to review recommended transportation revisions in the zero base process and give direction to the administration regarding implementation of those revisions.
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