Assistant Superintendent of Business Jaime R. Ayala presents a
budget update at each Board of Education meeting. The updates continue
to have a consistent message. Unfortunately, the message is that revenue is declining. This
calls for drastic belt-tightening. Fortunately, the District closed the
2008-09 fiscal year with a $37 million ending fund balance in its
General Fund. This relatively large fund balance was the result of
one-time Federal stimulus money as well as the District's efforts during
the past year to reduce expenditures. This will go a long way in
helping us get through this bad economy, which by all indications will
persist through 2011-12. However, drawing down reserves will not be
enough. It will be necessary to continue to reduce expenditures.
Management is working closely with the Board on ways to economize as
much as possible.
The Board of Education and management continue to take steps to deal
with our current economic crisis. A Budget Update
newsletter gives the latest information to keep the community
informed and will continue to be updated.
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On
October 14, Colton JUSD sold $48,999,050 of its Measure G General
Obligation Bonds. This bond sale is the first series of Measure G,
which received overwhelming voter approval on November 3, 2008. One of
the important steps leading to the sale of the bonds was obtaining an
updated bond rating. We were very pleased to learn that in spite of a
very bad economy, Standard & Poor's raised the District bond rating
to a "A+" rating, compared a previous rating of "A". Among the key
reasons for the rating upgrade noted in Standard & Poor's report is
the "historically good financial performance, which helped the district
grow its reserves to strong levels in fiscal 2009". It should be noted
that the process used by bond rating firms such as Standard & Poor's
includes a thorough analysis of a District's financial performance as
well as interviewing both the District Superintendent and Assistant
Superintendent of Business Services for an assessment of how well the
district is managed. Management believes that being financially
conservative is called for, particularly in bad economic times. We are
very pleased to see that Standard & Poor's agrees.
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We need your help. Given the
continuing economic downturn at both the national and state levels,
funding for education continues to decline. We therefore need to find
ways to reduce our costs and save money. If you have any cost savings
ideas, please share them with us
(share ideas)
, or e-mail
Jaime R. Ayala, Assistant Superintendent, Business Services Division at
jaime_ayala@cjusd.net
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