Trigger cuts: Some schools ready, some schools not

News of a likely one and a half billion dollar midyear cut to California public schools is sinking in across the state. While these trigger cuts may take a few months to materialize, KPCC’s Adolfo Guzman-Lopez reports some districts aren’t worried.

The trigger cuts would be terrible news for several school districts. Inglewood Unified, for one, has told the state it will run out of money before the school year is out.

Riverside Unified, says Superintendent Rick Miller, will tap into reserve funds.

"Nobody in this district, I think, will see any changes in this year, in basically the second semester which is what we’re talking about," Miller said.

The problem, Miller says, is the district will have to make cuts later to replenish the reserves as required by state law.

Arcadia Unified, says Superintendent Joel Shawn, planned for the trigger cuts by slashing $5 million from its budget last June.

"We reduced staffing and we agreed to take, teachers took seven furlough days and everyone else took five furlough days. We reduced the school year by five student days," Shawn said.

A school district’s largest expense is teacher salaries. That’s what Capistrano Unified will target, spokesman Marcus Walton says, when trigger cuts force the district to reopen negotiations with its teachers’ union.

Everything would be on the table, from salary reductions to furlough days. A shortfall in expected revenue will trigger the midyear cuts to schools, universities, and other public agencies. The governor’s office is expected to announce the midyear cuts in a few weeks.

Public school advocates are expected to pressure lawmakers to take their finger away from the trigger and find the funds elsewhere in California’s tight budget.