The Hermosa Beach School Board Monday night voted to reject a resolution that would have authorized district officials to make an estimated $28,000 in budget cuts for the current academic school year. The vote was 3-1.

By voting against this resolution, the School District will now be able to dip into its reserves to absorb the shortfall.

The School Board will now focus its attention on the 2003-04 school year when it might see a $200,000 to $300,000 budget shortfall due to the state’s $34 billion deficit inevitably affecting services and programs of school districts across California.

“Here we are where with only one-third left in the school year, and state legislators and the governor have yet to agree on the state budget,” said School Board member Lance Widman. “We thought making cuts at this point in the school year didn’t seem like the right approach. We wanted to work on a more thoughtful and participatory way of how to crack the nut, so to speak, in 2003-04.”

The School District will face local budgetary problems over an 18-month period. The District Budget Committee was formed to take a closer look at ways to increase budget revenues and decrease expenditures.

“Although we made some cuts last year, we were able to avoid those most detrimental to our students through the incredible fund-raising efforts of the PTO and HBEF (Hermosa Beach Education Foundation),” said Hermosa Valley Principal Chris Jones. “Again we will be looking for ways to augment our income stream to protect our valued programs and staff. With the worsening crisis, the District Budget Committee is also developing plans to reduce our expenditures through a process of identifying all programs that go beyond our legal mandate to educate.”

In an attempt to absorb this year’s $120,000 shortfall, the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation in conjunction with the Parent Teacher Organization drafted a letter that was sent home with every district student asking parents to make a donation to the foundation.

Through the community’s donations, the foundation was able to raise the entire amount and save every program.

Aside from budget problems, the School District is also involved in labor negotiations with administrators and teachers.

“We want to put a process in place where we are not just looking at the money but at the curriculum in a thoughtful manner rather than having this knee-jerk reaction to this year’s budget shortfall as if the sky is falling,” added Widman. “The hope is we will be able to develop a more deliberative approach. We have had a lot of cooperation from both the faculty and staff, and negotiations have been far more collaborative than I’ve seen in other districts. The president of the classified and certified group and elected policy makers are involved in the discussion which is a very positive step and makes a world of difference.”

Board member Cathy McCurdy was absent from Monday’s meeting.