(August 30) The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools has informed at least two of the county’s school districts that it will not approve their spending plans, in one instance for the current academic  year or, in the other, the coming two years.
The office of the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools in an August 9 letter to the Rim of the World Unified School District in the San Bernardino Mountains said that district’s 2013-14 budget was inadequate, and directed district officials to revise its spending plan for resubmission no later than September 9.
The letter from Superintendent of County Schools Grary Thomas to Rim Schools Superintendent Donna Kellogg said the county had come across multiple problematic areas in the district’s current fiscal year budget. In addition, according to Thomas, the district’s projections for 2014-15 and 2015-16 appear to be unrealistic.
According to Michelle McClowry, an auditor appointed by Thomas to work with financially troubled districts in the county, the budgets submitted by the Victor Valley Union High School District  for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school are not deemed acceptable.
McClowry delivered the County Superintendent of Schools assessment at the district’s last board meeting, shortly after the newest board member, Rita Jackson, was sworn in and the board approved $330,000 worth of new positions.
McClowry said the district is expected to amend its budget numbers to reflect more optimistic income in terms of Local Control Funding  that will come to the district.
Victor Valley Union High School District is on the mend, following a warning letter delivered to it by the California Superintendent of Schools which cited its deteriorating financial circumstance that could trigger a state takeover. The district’s financials had been harmed by downturns in state funding, overspending and bond debt service obligations. To alleviate the hemorrhaging of red ink, the district layed off 80 employees and reduced bus service, along with other economies.