At this week’s yearly organizational meeting, the Board of Education voted unanimously to elect Sharon Wallin to a one-year term as president and Lauren Brooks to a one-year term as clerk.
Newly appointed board member Ira Glasky also formally took the oath of office Tuesday night before the five-member board approved school site liaison assignments, appointed representatives to various committees and established meeting dates through December 2014. The next two regular meetings are scheduled for Jan. 14 and Feb. 4.
Wallin, the new president, is currently serving her third term after winning re-election in November 2010. She has been a strong advocate for emergency preparedness, student safety and adequate state funding for public education.
Board certifies First Interim Report
Also Tuesday, the board voted to certify IUSD’s First Interim Report of 2013-14 as “positive,” meaning the district is expected to meet its financial obligations over the next few years.
Every school district in California is required to examine and certify its financial condition as “positive,” “qualified” or “negative” twice during each fiscal year. Positive is the ideal certification, while qualified indicates a district may not be able to meet its financial obligations for the current year and the two subsequent years. A negative certification indicates that a district will not be able to meet its financial obligations over this period.
John Fogarty, IUSD’s assistant superintendent of Business Services, said the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office continues to call for “cautious optimism,” projecting increases in state revenue all the way through 2019-20.
“They’re operating under the assumption that the economy is healthy, that it’s rebounding and that it will continue that rebound,” he said.
Still, Fogarty pointed out that economic downturns tend to occur every five years, and he acknowledged that even the experts haven't reached consensus on their revenue forecasts for public education, with two of the agencies that provide guidance to school districts offering vastly different recommendations based on anticipated growth and the timeline for fully implementing the state’s new Local Control Funding Formula.