Burbank Unified Superintendent Matt Hill emailed an update on the District’s budget situation and the reopening of school later this year to parents, students and staff on Thursday, May 28. BUSD faces $13 million in cuts for 2020-21 school year after receiving the initial State budget from the Governor earlier in May.
Hill encouraged parents, students and staff to continue advocating for increased State and Federal financial support by contacting government representatives. The State legislature is currently working on the budget for the coming fiscal year which begins July 1. Many people are also asking Federal representatives to include funding for public schools in future pandemic stimulus packages.
Hill also gave an update on the Board of Education’s upcoming meetings, noting that the Board has delayed adopting a budget until June 25.
The first day of the 2020-21 school year is slated for Monday, August 17. Discussions are ongoing as to how BUSD can reopen and adhere to Los Angeles County Office of Education guidelines. BUSD is also conducting a survey on student and parent experience with Spring semester 2020.
Here’s the email sent by Superintendent Matt Hill:
“Dear Families, Students, and Employees:
Budget – Keep up the advocacy!
Your advocacy is working! The Senate is working on a budget proposal that would prevent some reductions to education and the Assembly is also working on a proposal. The legislature has until June 15th to submit a budget to the Governor. Click here to email your legislators. Tell them your personal stories and give them solutions that they can implement instead of cuts. For example they can use the State reserves, Rainy Day fund, cash deferrals, and/or delay or reduce school district payments to CalSTRS and CalPERS. We will continue to discuss the budget situation during a series of Board meetings. We have also pushed the Budget Adoption to June 25th so that we have more time to advocate to prevent these cuts. You can watch the Board meetings by clicking here
- Thursday, June 4, at 7pm – Regular Board meeting, Budget Update
- Wednesday, June 10, at 7pm – Study Session regarding the Budget
- Thursday, June 18, at 7pm – Regular Board Meeting, Budget Update
- Thursday, June 25, at 7pm Special Board Meeting – Budget Adoption
Reopening of School 2020-21
You should have received a survey from Robyn Anders this week to collect your feedback about your experience this spring. You can also access the survey by clicking here. This is a high-level survey; we will continue to solicit more detailed feedback over the next several weeks. The Reopening Committee will kick-off next week and will begin by reviewing the Los Angeles County Office of Education Reopening Framework and will begin to use the framework to develop a BUSD specific plan. Next week, we will launch a website that will house all of this information and will allow you to continue to provide feedback.
By continuing to work together, we will build a stronger BUSD.
Take care,
Matt Hill, Ed.D.
Superintendent”
