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Confusion over a special education fund has plunged Berkeley schools back into debt and left district officials and the administrator of the fund trading accusations of blame. 

Berkeley Unified had penciled in approximately $5.3 million for its 2003-04 budget from the Special Education Local Plan Area—a public agency that pools and distributes state, federal and county special education funds for groupings of school districts. But Berkeley Unified recently discovered that because of a $1.3 million shortfall in the fund, Berkeley is now facing a $867,000 deficit. Berkeley, like all districts in California, is required by law to allow SELPA to manage its special education funding. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence said the district plans to make further, undetermined cuts, rather than carry the deficit over into next year’s budget. 

David Wax, Director of SELPA Northern Alameda County Region, said Berkeley Unified should have known better than to budget for $5.3 million, the dollar figure slated for Berkeley in 2003-04 as its base amount. Last year, Wax said, Berkeley was scheduled to receive $5.3 million in SELPA money, but the district ended up with just $4.1 million because of declining enrollment and other revenue adjustments. This year was bound to be worse, Wax added, because the state didn’t pass on a cost of living adjustment to its contribution to the fund. 

“I’d like to know who promised them $5.3 million in revenue,” he said. “It wasn’t me.” 

Berkeley Unified’s Director of Fiscal Services Song Chin-Bendib blamed the confusion on SELPA’s inability to give the district realistic numbers in a timely manner. The district didn’t receive the actual figure until December, she said, after it had already completed its first interim budget report. She defended her decision to rely on the original $5.3 million figure. “We have to rely on written documents,” she said. 

Berkeley Unified appears to be the only district challenging SELPA’s numbers. Margaret Romero, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services for Albany Unified said SELPA’s projections “appeared right.” 

But that doesn’t mean the districts have confidence in SELPA’s accounting. Last year SELPA overfunded Berkeley, Piedmont, Albany and Emeryville at the expense of Alameda, Romero said. 

The year before that mix up Piedmont and Albany mistakenly were given a chunk of Emeryville’s share, Romero said. And this year, Chin-Bendib said she found errors in SELPA’s formulas that netted the district an extra $20,000. 

Wax, who doubles as the director of special education for the Alameda County Unified School District, refused to comment on the series of accounting errors. 

On Wednesday top district business officials will meet with Wax to pour over the funding formulas. “We couldn’t make heads or tails of their numbers,” Romero said. “So now we’re getting together to make sure everything is kosher.”