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ATTACHMENT NO. 1
•ContraCostaTim
School administrators see
little gain from state
Supreme Court ruling on
redevelopment agencies
Jim Steinberg, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/08/2012 06:03:57 AM PST
Updated: 01/08/2012 07:16:06 PM PST
At most it will be $100,000.
Or not even enough to cover one-half of one
furlough day.
That's the assessment from the Upland Unified
School District of what last week's state Supreme
Court decision on redevelopment agencies might
mean - in a best-case scenario.
The court last week concluded the Legislature could
take redevelopment funding, rejecting arguments
that such action violated Proposition 22, a 2010
measure designed to bar the state from seizing local
funds to pay its bills.
The justices struck down a separate state law
allowing redevelopment agencies to stay afloat if
they relinquished a large share of their funding to
the state.
On the day of the ruling, Gov. Jerry Brown said the
decision "guarantees more than a billion dollars of
ongoing funding for schools and public safety."
After running some numbers, that could translate to
$100,000, said Liz Seymour, senior director of
fiscal services for the Upland Unified School District.
Putting that in perspective for a school district
which has an annual budget of $85 million, one
furlough day amounts to a $250,000 savings for the
district.
And in the current school year, the Upland school
district is taking nine furlough days to make ends
meet.
But here's the really big question, if the state does
eventually send the district this $100,000, what will
it take away?
Regardless of how the numbers get crunched,
school officials are clear
on one point - this isn't likely to be bonus dollars.
George Velarde, assistant superintendent for
business services for the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint
Unified School District, said that when the dust
settles, there will be no increase in funding to
schools as a result of the state legislation upheld by
the state's highest court.
Velarde said it is likely that any additional funds
received from the legislation will result in relieving
the state, by a like amount, from its financial
obligations to the schools.
"We see no net gain for local school districts," he
said.
Kim Stallings, deputy superintendent of the Ontario-
Montclair School District, said the court ruling
actually cost the state some $700 million, which it
will need to make up from somewhere.
While allowing the state the right to dissolve
redevelopment funding, the court struck down
companion legislation which would have allowed
redevelopment agencies to stay afloat if they
relinquished a large share of their funding to the
state.
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Under the scenario where most redevelopment
agencies paid what was frequently referred to as
"ransom," the state would have netted $1.7 billion,
not the $1 billion Brown cited.
Julie Gobin, spokeswoman for the Chino Valley
Unified School District, echoed sentiment among
several school districts, noting that in the
management of the state budget crises, "the IOU list
just keeps growing."
"We have learned not to count on funds until they
come in," she said.
Stallings has concerns that some of that missing
$700 million might come from schools, but he his
hopeful some of that $1 billion will flow into public
education.
Stallings also worries that the dissolution of city
redevelopment agencies across the state will have
significant impact on how school districts focus on
off-school situations.
At times, school districts and redevelopment
agencies have co-operatively focused on
neighborhood blight issues, pouring money into
troubled areas surrounding a school.
Redevelopment agencies can put in parks, clear out
blighted apartment houses, bring in new
businesses, all helpful to school districts as they try
to "treat the whole kid," he said.
Michael Ridgway, president of the Rialto Unified
School District board, said that the final resolution
of the redevelopment agency situation is far from
complete.
"Clearly, decisions are still being made... .not only is
the ink still wet, but the outcome hasn't been
written," he said.
Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren and other area
city leaders have said the battle to save city
redevelopment agencies will be determined in the
Legislature.
Ridgway said he believes that Gov. Brown has
clearly signaled education has taken its share of
cuts.
And now its time for city redevelopment agencies
start taking some bumps, he said.
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