Friday, July 07, 2006

Fontana City's Budget is Solid, but Fontana Union School district Endures Difficulties... (070606 Fontana Herald)



Fontana's City Budget would be hard to beleive that they would be having a hard time with all the businesses that they have in the North end, off Summit, and Along Valley Blvd now that are all paying taxes into the Fontana city Budget. They are doing good. However, they say that the School budget is not doing good, and the reason for that is the federal government doesn't pay what they say that they were going to or are going to, Leaving FUSD with very little money to finance their budget. consequently the budget being short they don't know what they will do. I just hope for the Children's sake. The ones that have to try to learn on the small budget will do okay.

BSRanch


City's budget is solid, but FUSD endures difficulties



When it comes to budgetary matters, the City of Fontana has fared well in recent years, but the Fontana Unified School District has endured some struggles.

Blessed with plenty of prime land to attract new residents and businesses, the city's fortunes have improved tremendously over the past 15 years. The city, which was on the brink of bankruptcy in the early 1990s, has steadily fought its way back to a favorable position. As can be seen in the recently approved 2006-2007 budget, the city is now able to pay all its bills for basic necessities (including added police protection) and has the luxury of being able to invest in additional community services such as parks.

MEANWHILE, however, times are tougher for the FUSD. The school district's 2006-2007 budget faces a $5 million deficit, and the shortfall would have been much larger had it not been for a welcome influx of money from the state. But as district officials warn, there is no guarantee that the state (which is recovering from its own financial woes) will be as generous next year, meaning that the FUSD could be forced to make some extremely difficult decisions.

The good news is that the citizens of Fontana showed that they care deeply about their schools by overwhelmingly passing Measure C, the $275 million bond initiative, in the recent election. The bond measure will enable the FUSD (the 17th largest district in California) to keep up with its rapid growth in student enrollment by constructing and equipping 13 new schools and modernizing several existing ones.

Still, this next year will be critical for the FUSD, which again finds itself in the position of having to hire a superintendent due to the departure of Charles Milligan. The Board of Education must find the right person who can help guide the district through its budget problems.

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