BY SUPERINTENDENT TERRY L. WALKER This week, school districts in California finally got an answer to the question they’ve been grappling with for months: How much money will there be to support students this year?

At its yearly organizational meeting on Tuesday night, the Board of Education voted unanimously to elect Michael Parham to a one-year term as president and Carolyn McInerney to a one-year term as clerk. Sue Kuwabara, who was president this past year, was honored for her leadership.

The selection of a new president wasn't the only big news at Tuesday night's Board of Education meeting.

The IUSD Board of Education’s meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 6 will mark its final regular session of 2011, and there’s no shortage of business on the agenda.

With the help of an Irvine-based design firm, IUSD is in the process of developing a comprehensive plan that will be used to guide the construction of new schools and the modernization of existing sites over the next two decades.

The Irvine Unified School District has selected an experienced and highly regarded finance chief to serve as its next assistant superintendent of business services.

The Irvine Public Schools Foundation kicked off its annual campaign this week to raise money for local schools, which stand to receive double the benefit.

Just a reminder that tonight's Board of Education meeting will kick off a half-hour earlier at 6:30 p.m.

The California Legislature adopted a budget this week that calls for flat funding for K-12 education, but schools remain vulnerable to midyear cuts that would be automatically triggered if an anticipated spike in revenue doesn’t materialize.

The IUSD Board of Education voted unanimously this week to adopt a budget for 2011-12, and, in the same motion, directed staff to forward all appropriate documents to the Orange County Department of Education.