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Tears were shed Wednesday after the Berkeley School Board approved a fiscal emergency plan that slashed $3.2 million from its general fund and killed a 31-year-old program serving teenage mothers and their children. 

“Pregnant students and parent students won’t disappear just because there are no services available,” said a bleary-eyed Katherine Sullivan, director of the Vera Casey Center—one of the first programs in the nation to offer pre-natal services and parent counseling to Berkeley students and day care to their children  

Eliminating Vera Casey was the most controversial part of the plan that cuts 32 positions, and roughly $1.2 million in spending on personnel, while relying on improved administrative efficiencies and program transfers out of the general fund to balance the books for 2004-2005. 

The plan, mandated by the county, erases the structural deficit the district faces next fiscal year from rising health care and labor costs. The plan’s approval—depending on the outcome of the state budget—could be the final chapter in the three-year budget crisis that nearly ended local control over Berkeley schools. A final budget for 2004-05 will not be approved until June. 

After cutting $14 million over the past two years by among other things increasing class sizes for fourth through ninth graders, cutting music instruction in middle and elementary schools and closing an elementary school, Alameda Associate Superintendent of Business Services Michael Lenahan said the district is poised to win county approval for its budget for the first time since 2001. 

District officials, however, remained cautious. “We’re not out of the woods here,” said Superintendent Michele Lawrence, who warned more cuts might be needed if voters rejected the March ballot initiatives authorizing the state to borrow up to $15 million to close its budget gap.  

The board approved the latest plan by a vote of 3-1-1, with Berkeley School Board President John Selawsky voting against it, based on his objections to closing Vera Casey. 

“This serves and supports one of our most vulnerable populations,” he said. “I’m not sure what happens to teen parents if we close this program entirely.” 

Vera Casey operates on a state grant, but the district must cover program deficits which in recent years have topped $100,000 and, despite cuts to the program, was projected to hit $70,000 this year. Enrollment has shrunk in recent years to just 18 students, fewer than ten of which regularly attend school, Lawrence told the board.  

The district did not present a plan to serve student mothers, though Lawrence broached possibly issuing child care stipends to students in need. 

Selawsky’s concerns fell on deaf ears. “I have the same concerns as you, but none of these cuts have been easy,” said Board Member Joaquin Rivera. “If we take items out now the whole thing will fall apart.”  

Vera Casey Director Sullivan blamed a lack of knowledgeable administrators for overstating the forecasted deficit and said she would try to keep the center open with money from the city or state—a prospect she acknowledged was a longshot. 

“I don’t see how they could close the program without an alternative in place,” Sullivan said. “It’s a greater crisis to the community to have teenage mothers put their children in an unsafe environment.” 

Further cuts could also come, Lawrence said, if a district budget report due out in April shows that cost savings measures already implemented have failed to plug an estimated $2.3 million hole in the current budget. 

In addition to passing the fiscal recovery plan, the board declared a fiscal emergency for next year, allowing it to budget class sizes at ratios of 37 students to one teacher in the general fund—well above limits authorized in the voter-approved Berkeley Schools Excellence Project ballot measure. Money from that initiative will pay for more teachers to reduce class sizes below numbers provided in the general fund. 

In contrast to budget battles from the previous two years, this year’s cuts, which targeted mostly non-teachers, sparked little citizen outrage. Class sizes are scheduled to remain stable and lost teacher jobs due to an estimated decline in enrollment of 176 students are forecast to be offset by retirements and resignations. 

The plan foresees thousands in savings from improved administrative controls, including self-insuring the district for worker’s compensation, lowering legal expenses and improving payroll systems and data processing systems. It forecasts health and welfare benefits to rise 18 percent and doesn’t include the governor’s proposed spending hikes that could bring the district $700,000 due to the precarious nature of the state budget. 

Among the more controversial measures were provisions to eliminate more than 15 positions for special education instructional aides and push the cost for middle school librarians and an accountant responsible for Berkeley High student accounts from the general fund to discretionary accounts controlled by school sites. 

Student Boardmember Bradley Johnson worries that charging the accountant to the high school student account could endanger student programs like the newspaper, student government and athletic department. However, Superintendent Lawrence said the fund had money to absorb the position next year until the district found a long-term solution. 

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