By Cynthia Parkhill ? Focus pages editor
MIDDLETOWN ? Property foreclosures in Hidden Valley Lake have had a direct impact on the Middletown Unified School District, resulting in decreased attendance.
“If you”ve lost your home, are you going to rent in Hidden Valley and drive to Santa Rosa?” district Superintendent Korby Olson said. “No, you”re going to rent in Santa Rosa.”
Olson said that the district lost 120 students between 2008 and 2009. “We lost 30 students the year before and we”re predicting that we lost 59 this year.
“Looking at those 200 students down in that two-year period, it was a 50-50 split from Coyote Valley Elementary School and from the high school,” Olson added.
The district had a reduced budget for school year 2010-2011 by around $1.6 million. As a result, it had to make reductions in personnel, athletics, conferences, supplies and materials.
“The majority of our reductions have to do with our declining enrollment,” Olson said.
Resolutions that came before the board on May 12 reduced the certificated workforce by 10.53 full-time equivalents and reduced the classified workforce by 17.5 full-time equivalents.
Olson is taking five less work days and a corresponding reduction in salary under the terms of his latest contract, which was approved by the board on May 26. The contract governs the period from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2013.
Within the last three years, with the economic downturn and the declining enrollment, if the district does not bring any positions back, it will have reduced its workforce by 53 personnel. Of these, most were lost through attrition. “We offered retirement and some left of their own volition. We only had three that were placed on a rehire list. Olson said that the rehire list is good for 39 months. If, in that time, a job opening becomes available, those employees can be brought back in order of their level of seniority.
The school district is in the midst of several projects that were financed by a general obligation bond.
At a general election held Nov. 7, 2006, voters approved the issuance of bond money in an amount that was not to exceed $15.3 million. Conducted under the auspices of California”s Proposition 39, it required 55-percent approval by voters in order to pass; however, Prop. 39 places certain restrictions upon the use of bond revenues.
“School bond money cannot be used for teachers” or administrators” salaries,” Olson said. “It is expressly prohibited in the law.”
Bond revenue use is also subject to the scrutiny of an oversight committee and to bond performance audits. Olson said the district has received favorable performance audits.
The board has approved some budget recommendations that include restoring two periods of ROP, bringing back one-quarter of an attendance clerk position at Coyote Valley Elementary School and bringing back three two-hour positions that cover lunch-time campus security. Olson said there may be a special meeting to consider other budget matters.
The next board meeting is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. June 30 in the Middletown multi-use room. For more information, visit www.middletownusd.org/.
