The name of the game is strategy for the West Sonoma County Union School District in its efforts to keep all options on the table and stave off massive teacher layoffs. Caught between two tax measures for funding on a tight schedule, extending the potential merger conversation was worth the gamble at the board’s Nov. 23 special meeting.
The trustees voted unanimously to place a parcel tax measure on a 2021 ballot and planned another special board meeting Nov. 30 to finalize the details in a resolution. Consultant Greg Isom said he recommended the board proceed with a measure for a 3-year parcel tax charging $48 per year. Superintendent Toni Beal said the parcel tax measure needs to be submitted to the Registrar of Voters by Dec. 4 to place it on a March ballot.
The board reconsidered the parcel tax after first rejecting it at their Nov. 18 meeting upon new information from 5th District Supervisor Lynda Hopkins’ office that the district may be able to apply for a county grant to fund the tax’s placement on the ballot, according to Kellie Noe, vice board president. Beal said Tuesday that the district would split the cost of an election with the county because the measure would be on the same ballot as the county’s proposed transient occupancy tax.
The trustees also unanimously approved a resolution in support of the county’s proposed West County Transient Occupancy Tax ordinance, which stated the Board of Supervisors would finalize some revisions and consider adopting the ordinance Nov. 30 to place before voters March 2, 2021.
According to the resolution, the TOT ordinance would direct 50% of its generated revenue toward west county schools and educational opportunities within its area boundaries “as long as recipient schools are actively working towards regional unification efforts and striving to maintain existing school facilities and programs.” Other revenue generated by the transient occupancy tax would go to public paramedic emergency medical and rescue services, the resolution said.
Next, the board took a calculated step forward on a consolidation path to move the District Office and Laguna High School onto the El Molino campus and relocate El Molino students onto the Analy campus – with a catch.
“The board doesn’t have an intention to actually implement this. It’s a placeholder in our Fiscal Recovery Plan with the hope that it will buy us more time to have the conversation,” Beal said Tuesday.
Using Decoy Consolidation Plans to Delay Consolidation Plans — It’s Complicated
It came as no surprise to the board that the district will certify as qualified in its first interim budget report due Dec. 15 to the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE), according to the superintendent in an interview Tuesday.
“Because we know, based on the budget projections, that we’re projected to be short by $2 million in 2022, 2023, that in and of itself triggers that qualified status,” said Jeff Ogston, chief business official on Tuesday.
A qualified certification means the district may be incapable of meeting its financial obligations for the current or two subsequent years. By law, Beal said, SCOE would subsequently demand the district formulate a Fiscal Recovery Plan by the second interim report in March demonstrating how it will prevent the $2 million shortfall Ogston projected will alight upon the district in the 2022-2023 school year.
That second interim report comes due March 15, the same day the district must unleash massive preliminary layoff notices in the absence of any other board-approved budget changes, Beal said.
Unlike other consolidation scenarios, moving Laguna students and the district office to Forestville campus and El Molino students to the Analy campus is the only option that sidesteps a complete layoff of staff or cuts, she said Monday night.
The shuffle could qualify for a categorical exemption of a full California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) study, turning a six-month review into a 35-day process that would allow the board to give SCOE a provisional road map to saving $2 million and buy time for more funding options to open up and delay a decision, Beal said.
“So if we can go with this scenario where we would have an answer by February, we could avoid having to do the massive layoffs,” she said. “And then we would know in March if the TOT passes or the parcel tax passes, in which case, we can make modifications to our fiscal recovery plan based on new information. But without that information before March when we have to submit our fiscal recovery plan, basically we’re backed into a situation where we have to do the massive layoffs.”
The board agreed to direct district staff to pursue this consolidation scenario as a placeholder plan to obtain a categorical exemption from CEQA study by February. They also directed district staff to prepare a resolution for Nov. 30 that clearly outlines an agreement that the passage of one or both tax measures in March “buys us a year of time to be able to have a more thoughtful, engaged process moving forward,” in Noe’s words.
“It’s heartbreaking, where our district is and the discussions we’re having because they’re not easy ones and there’s no easy path forward,” she said. Noe asked if it was possible for staff to arrange a resolution to basically say the board’s intention was to “pull this piece” looking into the next year if other funding sources entered the picture.
“I think the board can make their plan known,” Beal said when board president Fernandes asked if such a resolution was possible.
A full CEQA study would likely end in June 2021 and cost $250,000 in bond funds, long after a lack of official plans would force the district to lay off staff. According to Jennie Bruneman, director of facilities and bond construction management, the reason this plan moves El Molino students to the Analy campus is because moving the Analy student body to the El Molino site would require adding over 23 classrooms, “triggering a full-blown CEQA.”
The superintendent said the district could qualify for a categorical exemption because no classrooms would need to be added to the Analy site to accommodate for the influx of El Molino students, since the classrooms left behind by Laguna students could hold the overflow.
Meanwhile, because the district office and Laguna students would occupy El Molino’s facilities, the Forestville site would not be vacant or “a situation of urban blight,” she said.
Beal said the cost savings of this potential consolidation plan would be $1.2 million, so the district would only need to save an additional $400,000 in the budget.
She reminded the board they’ve had to develop fiscal recovery plans in the past knowing situations can change and plans can change under new circumstances, but they must submit plans for SCOE’s approval first to stay in the game. While the trustees did not make any official decisions regarding consolidation, the board settled on the scenario as a temporary plan after the superintendent presented the consequences of various consolidation or no-consolidation scenarios.
Following a resolution to determine the temporary consolidation plan was categorically exempt, the district would need to file paperwork with the county, Beal said. The superintendent said she understood her direction to include an additional resolution on the conditions of the categorical exemption for the Nov. 30 meeting.
Jeanne Broome, the El Molino student representative on the board, said she understood the scenario might be the most feasible, “but it just looks to me we’re either asking staff or an entire school population to hold their breaths. And that sucks.”
She continued, “Really I just sympathize with everyone because even if it is just procedural, whatever message you send out with whatever procedural option you choose, it does send out a message to those parties. And that’s how I think it would be perceived.”
Fernandes responded, “I think what I could tell you is this will behoove everybody in our district to get their butts in gear in working on passing the TOT and the parcel tax. And the thing that makes me feel really good is that we have a lot of energized young people like yourself that I know may not be able to vote, but actually will get out there and get people to vote.”
She added, “And I will tell you from experience that when our students are engaged in that process, boy do they bring the voters to the table.”
