Fillmore Unified School District

Fillmore Unified School District Trustees have learned that the district needs $2.2 million dollars to break even next year.

Mike Bush, Assistant Superintendent for Business told the board at this weeks meeting that “We're dead with less.” He went on to say that it's expected that the state will take away at least $2.1 million dollars to help make up for the state budget deficit. Bush added that if the state takes the additional money, that means that the state will have cut the Fillmore school budget by 20 percent over the past three years. This equals $3.6 million dollars. Bush said the state budget is $19.9 billion dollars “Out of whack.”

Board member John Garnica noted that California has the lowest credit rating in the country and he pointed out that California has dropped to last place in spending per pupil for education.

Bush also brought to the board the issue of insurance costs for district employees. The district now pays all the costs of the HMO Blue Shield Access Plus and the staff members may choose to purchase a Blue Cross PPO plan. He suggested the district switch from the Access Plus plan to Blue Shield Net Value. This plan would save the school district $150 per month per employee. Bush said the plan has the same basic benefits and the same doctors as the Access Plus. The savings to the district would be over $500,000 dollars, Bush added.

Human Resources Consultant Bev Jones said she has been working with teachers and classified employees to develop the calendar for the next school year. Currently the calendar has 185 teacher days and 180 student days. As it is, the two semesters are not balanced as far as the number of days in each semester. This year were 76 days in the first semester and 104 in the second semester. She said she's going to continue meeting with both groups to try to balance the number of days before presenting the calendar for board approval.

Superintendent Jeff Sweeney noted that he and board member Garnica attended a meeting at the County Schools Office, where they heard of a proposed state constitution amendment. Right now there are two ballot initiatives concerning the constitution.

Sweeney introduced Kathleen Auth, the Cal-SAFE Program Coordinator for the Ventura County Office of Education. Cal-Safe is a program for expectant and parenting teens. She said the program is free and is funded by the California Department of Education to serve the needs of two populations: school-age parents and children of teens. It was enacted by the legislature in 1998. Goals include: Teens - decreasing the school drop-out rate, welfare dependency and repeat pregnancy. Children of teens – promote healthy development and school readiness. Janice Schferlee is the district health tech at Fillmore High School and is the liaison for the Cal-SAFE Program.
Mike Bush said the district is receiving $594,000 from the Neighborhood for Learning Grant, after he resubmitted an application. Fillmore and Santa Paula Elementary District were originally going to apply together, but Santa Paula pulled out. Virginia De La Piedra, board vice president said: “Thank you Dr. Bush for doing the work for this grant.”

Board member David Dollar announced that as of March 1 he will no longer reside within the district boundaries and will be resigning.

The next meeting of the board will be January 25 at 6:00 p.m. At the Ventura County Office of Education. Approval or denial of the proposed Piru Charter school will be announced. The next regular board meeting is February 2. Closed session begins at 5:15 p.m. And the regular meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. On February 16 regular meeting begins at 5:15 p.m. with a closed session, with the regular meeting at 6:00 p.m.