Good budget news for Poway Unified School District

The Poway Unified School District got some good budget news at its school board meeting held Monday night.

Superintendent John Collins announced during his briefing that the district had a positive budget, and would be able to balance the 2016-17 and 2017-18 budgets without cuts to expenses as previously expected.

“Our multi-year projection is looking good,” said Collins.

The district had a positive balance of $5.6 million as of Oct. 31.

Collins also said that the entire organization was now fiscally stable, something he attributed to using a conservative, methodical approach to budgeting; the hard work of Associate Supt. Malliga Tholandi and her staff; and the hard work of everyone in the district.

The positive balance of $5.6 million was included in the monthly budget revisions presented by Tholandi to the board for approval.

“I’m pleased to see that $5.6 million there, that makes me happy,” said Board Vice-President Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff.

Board President Kimberley Beatty suggested that some of that positive balance be used to restore district programs that had experienced cuts over the years since the recession.

The district also had some more fiscal good news, as it was announced that it would receive nearly $2.5 million in Educator Effectiveness Grant funds over the next two years.

These funds have been appropriated from the California Department of Education to the superintendent of public instruction, and have been transferred to school districts, county offices of education, charter schools and state special schools in an equal amount ($1,466 per certified FTE for the 2014-15 fiscal year).

These grant funds will be used for the Poway Professional Assistance program, which provides teachers new to the district with a support system of an experienced classroom teacher to assist in their first and second year of teaching; the Elementary Professional Learning, Professional Learning Advisory Board, Teacher Learning Cooperative and Teacher Evaluation Program; and five high school professional learning work release, which has one teacher from each comprehensive high school in the district being released for one period to work with site leadership teams to implement systemic staff development programs.

Funds that had previously been budgeted to fund these programs will go back into the general fund. When the grant expires in two years, general funds will be used to keep these programs running.

Also at the November board meeting:

• It was announced the district received a “near-perfect” 2014-15 financial compliance and program audit from the CPA firm of Wilkinson, Hadley, King and Co., LLP, with only one error. Three federal and 21 state programs were audited. The single error, of two students out of a sample of 50 being incorrectly designated as English Learners,

is estimated to have cost the district about $22,000.

•The board approved a resolution that would encourage the use of “people-first” language (for example, saying “a child with autism” rather than “an autistic child”). “People-first” language is an objective form of communication aimed at eliminating generalizations and stereotypes by focusing on the person, not the disability.

The next monthly board meeting is being held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15 at the district office, 15250 Avenue of Science in Carmel Mountain Ranch.