At the June 1 certificated negotiations, we learned several things about the GJUHSD budget. For example, we learned that the 3% reserve that the District is required to hold for economic uncertainty grew by $28,000 dollars from last year at this point. We also learned that the unappropriated fund balance has increased by $240,000 from last year to this point in this projected fiscal year due to all of its tier III fund sweeps. We also learned that the District is setting aside $167,000 for technology upgrades for this coming year while our contractual class sizes have increased and we still have classified and certificated colleagues with lay-off notices.
I realize that some of you look around and sense doom and gloom from a budget scenario at the state level. While the state has cut $18 billion from the education budget over the last several years, there are plenty of Districts that have overcompensated by building up reserves and/or exacting more furlough days than they really need. Our field representative has told us that in four other Districts he is working with, there are no furlough days scheduled for next year and if the tax measure passes in November, there might be talk of small increases.