that urban rush and noise and this is a perfect place to do it. feedback is always amazement. they don't believe that it's in san francisco. we have visitors who will say, i never knew this was here and i'm a native san franciscoan. they wonder how long it's been here. when i tell them next year we'll get to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the park,

>> we're going to get started now. thank you. good afternoon, everyone.

welcome. we have commissioner maufas with us. supervisor avalos. [inaudible] thank you. madam clerk, could you read the agenda for today? yes. can you speak into the microphone? we can [inaudible] >> it is 110443 [inaudible] >> thank you. i think we have city staff that is going to present for us today. our city librarian. >> good afternoon. first and foremost, you are probably wondering what this is all about. i am very proud of the fact that

today, i spent part of my day at argon elementary school to read poetry to youngsters from first graders through fourth graders, and i had the pleasure of having the general manager of the recreation and park department join me for that, so it was terrific. i mention that because it emphasizes the relationship that we established with the school district in terms of forging a very strong relationship, but today, i'm also here to ask for your support and endorsement of our literacy -- information literacy program that we have. in a nutshell, we are wanting to have 100% participation and ownership of a san francisco public library card for all kindergarten and first grade children. we have begun that effort by having the great collaboration of all the 500 classroom teachers literally issue out the

applications. we will be reporting that back to our library and staff so that we begin by emphasizing the importance of having every youngster had a library card. we went before the library commission. they endorsed it unanimously. also had the pleasure of having great support at the school district. they also passed a resolution, but i am really excited about being here today because it emphasizes that relationship between a school district board as well as the board of supervisors. i wanted thank the great support we have had from the school district from superintendent garcia. they have worked with our staff, and i want to introduce our lead staffers from the library side. our deputy city librarian, our chief of children and youth services, so again, i just ask

for your support of this. it really is important to have the policy -- policy makers and stakeholders understand how important it is for us to serve our youth. last year, we had 81,000 children receive library instruction at our neighborhood libraries. half of those are in the elementary area, so again, we want to continue the important portion, it does, to making sure that in san francisco, we have a policy-driven initiative to endorse everyone having a library card. thank you. and we are here answer any questions you may have on the program. >> colleagues, do you have any questions? commissioner norton, please. commissioner no.: i just wanted to thank the library -- commissioner norton: i just

wanted to thank the library. my daughter was so excited to get her first library card through this program here also, a wanted to thank you for going too far gone today. i was there as well. it was wonderful. -- a wanted to thank you for going to argon. supervisor avalos: i just wanted to apologize for not giving our books back in a timely manner. i guess i am wondering, how do we help families, let them know -- lessen the stigma they might sense. it could be a barrier that is there. >> absolutely. one of the things we take great pride in, we're still working on this, is eliminating barriers

to access and checking out materials. i do not know if anyone is aware, but we do not have funds for children, so any of those can be returned readily, no questions asked. but we want to encourage youngsters and families in particular to excess materials and books and borrow as many as they want. i think that it is an ongoing effort to make sure that we work with families as well to use different language, different approaches to folks that may not be familiar or have a tradition of the free public library we are so accustomed to in this country. i did not know if that answers your question. >> pretty much. we are well aware that there is no fine, but we are still late. >> you and i have to have a conversation about that. commissioner maufas: it is good to see you again. i just wanted to acknowledge

that i have visited my local library at bartlett and 24 with my granddaughter, who is just an infant, but at my surprise, rediscovering the library myself, but also, when i pulled up with a stroller, there was already a line of strollers for folks in my neighborhood who already know about the many activities that are available there for young families. i just think that this is such a great introduction to the library again, i have rediscovered my local library with my granddaughter, which i, sort of thought that she needed to be around kindergarten or first grade, but that introduction to reading and activities and visiting the library can happen much earlier, and i am very excited to be able to go with her on a saturday or thursday afternoon when they have those programs. i think that is a great addition the i had never experienced at the library, but i can also share that with my granddaughter and tell my own

child that there are programs there for young the ones before they get to school, but it is the great introduction into the library as a supplement and to school activities. so thank you very much. >> absolutely. to that point, we have a very engaged early literacy program. we have been working with child care providers, head start, and you are absolutely right. it is getting to them for those early literacy skills before they go in for the formal education program. we have met with wonderful response from the community, but also, it has been a proven program that has had success, so thank you for acknowledging that. the other piece i want to mention is that we also have ancillary programs. we have a free museum pass that provides access through the library to about 16 different museums throughout the city and

that in its first year has seen almost 85% capacity, and that is free for families -- residents of san francisco, so we are very proud of playing a part in the as well -- in that as well. >> thank you. i would like to now open up the floor for public comment. is there anyone who has any public comment? when any member of the public like to comment? ok, public comment is officially closed. will you read the second item for us? >> thank you. >> it is item 110-471, and that is the budget update for fiscal year 2011 [inaudible] >> thank you. i think we have a staff presentation.

welcome. >> good afternoon, everyone. i'm the director of budget services for the san francisco unified school district, and we do have a presentation. this is my first time here, and i'm going to try to be at the microphone as well as try to get the slides moving forward. hopefully, we will give you a brief presentation. we have a powerpoint that was presented at our recent principles and administrative meeting for the school district, and it is an update of our [inaudible]

very high-tech. on the budget situation, both for the state of california and how it impacts our school district. as you may be aware, in january, usually, the governor comes out with a proposed budget for the year -- the upcoming fiscal year. which is what governor brown did sometime in january and projected a $26.7 billion budget deficit for the state and a proposal on how to bridge that gap. a crucial part of the proposal was to extend those temporary tax increases that have been put in place two years ago. if you recall, those were an increase to the state sales tax and the legal license fee and a

couple of other items, as well as identify some cuts to be made outside of k-12 education. so he acknowledged -- the government acknowledged that education in the past has borne the brunt of most of the cuts every time the state had a deficit, and he made a pretty valiant attempt to keep these cuts away from schools, k-12 education for the upcoming budget year, but a lot of it hinged on having these tax extensions approved, which would have meant having to slash three of the legislature approved to put the tax extension measure on the ballot in june and there being a majority of the voters approving the extension. as we now know, the legislature has fallen short of approving

those tax extensions. time had run out on putting those extensions on the june ballot, and while the governor is still trying to convince some republican members of the legislature to support the tax extensions, at this point, the june ballot is absolutely not feasible. when we -- all school districts heard the governor's proposal in january, we started preparing our schools for in a worst-case scenario which would involve a significant cut. the status quo scenario would be not funding and facing $19 for 88 funding reduction fundingfor ada funding reduction. the worst case would be $349 for

ada cut, which for our school district translates into a little over $16 million. because now the june ballot for the tax extensions is no longer feasible, we are actually now looking at the worst-case scenario. many in the state are actually speculating that things could get even worse for education than just the $349. how bad could it get? now, increasingly, there is talk in the legislature of an all-cut its budget, abandoning any exploration of potential revenue augmentation or increases. and all cuts budget would mean a $4 billion or $5 billion cut to education, which translates

into $825 per ada instead of the current $349 we are facing. this would require a suspension of proposition 98, which would need 8 2/3 majority in order for the legislature to implement, but it has been done in the past, so we are not entirely ruling that out. if this were to happen, rules would likely have to change for schools. we would be facing less talk about reducing the instructional time by a full month, making some currently restricted programs a little more flexible so the the district could have greater discretion in spending the money. removing restrictions on class sizes for kindergarten through grade three. and if this were not done, to mitigate this huge, devastating cut, many districts would require a bailout from the

state, which pretty much defeats the purpose of cutting k-12 education. california schools have been in crisis for a long time, but things could keep getting worse. what happens next in sacramento? some speculate it is still possible to improve the -- approve the tax extension legislatively but not by voter approval, by the beginning of the fiscal year, july 1. why is this significant? if the legislature can act on, at least legislatively, approving the tax extension and then go to the voters on a special exemption may be in november, it would still be considered an extension of taxes, and otherwise, if this was allowed to last, and then put on the ballot, it becomes a ballot to increase taxes, which, as we all know, nobody has an

appetite for. in the meantime, economic changes could also cause a revision, of words or downwards. we're getting some numbers of tax collections from individual income taxes, which although it is up, it is by no means going to resolve this $25 billion gap that the state basis. the governor will release his next plan based on updated revenue projections in mid-may. we all plan to attend that conference. considering the possibility of new taxes in current-year revenues. our school district plans -- we are currently facing our projections on the worst-case scenario, which is the $349 cuts is a reality. this is tied to the january

budget that the governor proposed, and although there is speculation about a higher cut to education, there is currently no proposal out there by the governor or legislature, and all the advocacy agencies do not believe that we should at this time attempt to speculate that any new number until the governor announces his plan. increases in our costs bring the projected shortfall for our school district for the 2011- 2012 budget year up to $25 million, or about $485 per ada. this is even after accounting for the federal jobs funds, which we had decided to put in reserve for the current year and utilize in the 2011-2012 budget year. we should know more by the may

revision at the latest, and remember that these cuts are on top of the ones that we have identified for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 when we were attempting to close the shortfall we were facing, and we had implemented a number of proposals to close that $113 million gap already. we have utilized to the extent possible revenues. we have drastically reduced our summer school program. we have reduced generalize transportation. we utilize a gain to the extent possible without devastating programs, the flexibility afforded by our categorical funding. we have tapered down support to our staff schools. we have cut essential services, and we have reduced the of the

general uses. the next slide is a multi-year projection that we put together based on the government's current budget scenario, and based on where district finances are when we filed our second interim report in march. if you look at the third column of numbers from the left, the 2011-2012 projected and the last column, 2012-2013 projected, and zoom down to the bottom line, we project for both years 8 deficit ending fund balance, $7.5 million in 2011-2012 and $66.8 million in 2012-2013. however, this deficit gets to be higher because we have to have

some certain fund balance reserve designated both for economic uncertainties and for other designations like prepayments to the health service system and so on, which means that we are facing deficits in 2011-2012 of close to $25 million, and in 2012-2013 of $84 million. the next slide is just a graphic representation of where we stand with our district fund balance, and ending fund balance. what we have worked with our schools and our central administrative office on what we can continue to do with our school communities and our parents is we need to fight for some long-term solutions. the community can meet the call for systemic change to fund schools adequately, and there

is a groundswell of a lot of that happening on a lot of fronts. when we plan our budget for next year, we will focus on students with the highest need to the greatest extent possible. we will prioritize resources and services to schools with greatest academic need. we will prioritize services directly impacting student achievement. we -- be willing to change the status quo. we will look at every investment of dollars that we make in our districts and flush out the ones -- initiatives that have not shown any results and focus our resources on research-based initiatives, plan thoughtfully. we will consider short and long- term impact of cuts and how other funding sources can help reduce the impact. our focus will be to maintain our solvency and avoid state takeover and survive to see better financial times ahead. crucial to all this