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Community Invited to Advise Board of Education on 2008-09 Budget Plan
More Than 1,000 Suggestions Received

SAN DIEGO – San Diego Unified’s Board of Education is seeking citizen input as it grapples with funding reductions necessitated by the state of California’s budget crisis.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency, anticipating a $4.5 billion budget shortfall. For San Diego Unified it could mean between $78 and $80 million in cuts for the 2008-09 school year.

“This crisis is an opportunity to effectively redeploy our education dollars, to ask what is truly important to preserve a quality education for our children,” said Katherine Nakamura, School Board President. “We are asking our staff, our students, our families and the community to share their cost-saving ideas, as well as any ideas for increasing revenue.”

The Board of Education will be discussing the current-year budget, as well as planning for next school year’s budget, in upcoming meetings. The following times and dates have been scheduled as budget workshops for the Board of Education:

  • Friday, February 22, 2008 – noon – 3 p.m.
  • Monday and Tuesday, February 25 and 26, 2008 – 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
  • Friday, March 7, 2008 – 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
All budget workshops will be tentatively held at the Eugene Brucker Education Center, 4100 Normal Street (92103). Final locations will be noted on the front of the district website, www.sandi.net. As with all public meetings, time is available at the beginning and end of Board meetings to speak on this agenda item. Additional meetings and workshops will be held until a balanced budget is approved by the Board of Education in June as required by state law.

Members of the public are encouraged to make suggestions on the web, through the district’s “About the Budget” page at www.sandi.net/budget. The page has information on the current spending plan, as well as copies of all available budget documents. Click on the “Submit an Idea” box to submit suggestions. Hundreds of suggestions have been received to date.

Letters are also always welcome. Please send them to: Board of Education, 4100 Normal Street, San Diego, CA 92103.