The League of Women Voters of California along with Central Valley Educators are joining efforts, statewide, in a movement called “Repeal the Cap”, after a new state law -SB 858 is affecting schools from saving for a rainy day.
Saving money for the unexpected is something small school districts find necessary.
“A rainy day fund for us is what if the HVAC system goes out,” says Kathy Spate, a Caruthers Board Member.
Spate says her district likes to keep extra money saved in their budget.
“During the time that we had the recession, we had adequate reserves so that as the state revenues coming in decreased greatly – we were able to use those reserves to not have to cut programs.” -Kathy Spate
Now, a component of senate bill 858 has mandated a cap on those budgets limiting the amount of money school districts can keep in their savings, and a cap on that saving is triggered when money is deposited into the state level Prop 98 reserve fund.
“School districts across the state will have to spend down or eliminate basically the majority of their reserve caps because now that there’s Prop 98 money even if it’s only a dollar” says Shelly Sullivan with the School Boards Association.
On Tuesday, April 28th, educators gathered for a press conference held at Fresno High School including superintendents and board members from a number of districts: Caruthers, Fresno Unified, Pacific Union, Kings Canyon, and Coalinga-Huron Unified School District.
Sullivan is urging taxpayers to call their state representative, and ask legislators to repeal the bill before school districts have to dip into other funds which could jeopardize programs like sports or after-school activities, leaving them threatened when emergency funding is needed.
