Editorials

The BUSD board Wednesday accepted a Second Interim Financial Report on the district’s 2004-05 budget that continued BUSD’s “qualified” budget status and discussed the district teachers’ work-to-rule slowdown over a contract dispute. 

District financial staff members said that the figures in the financial report were little changed from the revised First Interim Report delivered to the Board in mid-February. 

A “qualified” status means that the district “may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the current fiscal year or the subsequent fiscal year” without cutting expenses or finding additional revenue. 

The Second Interim Report projects a $265,000 unrestricted general fund deficit for this year, but Deputy Superintendent Glenston Thompson said that that figure could be lowered if the district receives added state Average Daily Attendance money from higher-than-budgeted student attendance. The deficit figure also does not include a budget hit in excess of $400,000 which the district’s auditors ordered because of uncollectable receivables on the district’s books. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence cautioned that in part because of uncertainties in state funding, this was “a very tenuous budget; you don’t know from what side of the ledger the changes will come.” 

At the meeting, board directors also listened to an emotional speech from Student Board Director Lily Dorman-Colby, who criticized members of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers for their ongoing “work-to-rule” action. 

Breaking into tears at several points, Dorman-Colby said that there were “other ways for the teachers to get their message to the board without using the students.” 

Since late last month, members of the BFT across the district have been refusing to work beyond their contracted seven hour day—including lunch hours and after school—to protest the lack of a current contract with BUSD. BFT-BUSD negotiations are currently being handled through a state-appointed mediator. 

A mediation session is set for next week, and Board President Nancy Riddle announced that board members would hold a closed-session meeting on Sunday to prepare. 

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