One meeting after the celebration of selecting a new superintendent, the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education will face a grim prospect: a potential financial shortfall totaling nearly $60 million.
The board meets at 7 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Education Center, 10330 Stanford Ave., Garden Grove.
At the last meeting the board voted to choose Gabriela Mafi as the new top educator, replacing Laura Schwalm this summer. The second interim financial report before the board Tuesday refers to the money crisis the district could face this fall.
According to the report, “Due to California’s sluggish economic recovery, it is recognized that if necessary, the school district will continue to implement cuts and recognize savings of $27.7 million in the current fiscal year, $28.9 million in budget reductions in 2013-14, and an additional $30.2 million in 2014-15 to maintain financial solvency.”
As the report states, “the district may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the balance of the fiscal year and two subsequent school years.”
That doesn’t mean the district, which serves most of Garden Grove and parts of Anaheim, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Santa Ana and Westminster, is facing bankruptcy. Instead it indicates more budget cuts could be coming.
The report will be taken up on the same night that public hearings and presentations will be made by various employee groups for future collective bargaining agreements.
Those groups include the Garden Grove Education Association (primarily teachers), Garden Grove Pupil Personnel Services Association (primarily counselors), California School Employees (non-certificated employees such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers) and the supervisory unit (overseeing the physical plant of district facilities).
