| Sonoma County, CA | November 2, 2010 Election |
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Maintain A Balanced BudgetBy Eric KirchmannCandidate for Board Member; Cotati/Rohnert Park Unified School District |
This information is provided by the candidate | |
By Law we must submit a balanced budget every June, whether the state does so or not, and we must have at least a 3% reserve. I have done this every June for the past twenty years without fail. I hope to be able to continue doing so.Since 1990 when fellow community members urged me to run for office I have been part of an elected team which has submitted balanced budgets with at least 3% reserves every year. There have been cuts to funding and as such budget adjustments, (reductions) had to be made, sixteen of the past twenty years. I have sadly been forced to reduce budgets far more often than restore services. This has NOT been as a result of any decisions made by the Governing Board or staff of CRPUSD, but due to funding formulas and decisions beyond our control. We have maintained better than average salaries and resources for our staff and students and comparisons between neighboring Districts will indeed bare this out. Our Contract with our Teacher's association is a State Model for other Districts in terms of what is offered in our collective Bargaining Agreement with Teachers. During this time we have added programs such as BECL, 3-1-3, Technology High School, Expeditionary Learning, IB, and more. Sadly some of these have been cut due to funding shortfalls. I personally have worked with the Cotati Accordion Festival as an unpaid volunteer for the past twenty years to insure funding to music and performing arts, as well as other youth and community groups. In the past three years we have been forced to cut more than in the seventeen years combined. This means simply stated that we are maintaining staff salaries and compensation in the top 20% while we are being funded in the lowest 20%. We need experienced leadership who can work together to maximize resources and balance a budget without that simply stated we will be bankrupt in every sense of the word. I have the experience and have made the hard decisions in the good times and the bad. I wish to continue to make the decisions that need to be made and represent our community and students into the future. |
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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 7, 2010 17:36
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