PaliHi’s Budget Has Unexpected but Wary Gain

Palisades Charter High School is receiving more money from the state this fall than anticipated, but the school’s Chief Business Officer Greg Wood warns that this situation could change.   ’Given the status of the state budget and continued unknowns, I would like to caution against any ideas of creating additional expenditures on campus,’ Wood told the PaliHi school board on November 16. ‘I am presenting a positive budget, but that could disappear in a heartbeat.’   The state legislature approved a budget in October, but Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has called a special session of the state legislature beginning December 6 to look at mid-year cuts.   At this point, Wood estimates that PaliHi will have an operating budget of $23.2 million in 2010-11, with a surplus of $622,661.   This summer, the board passed a $22.8-million operating budget that called for dipping into the reserve by $358,245. At that time, school officials assumed that PaliHi would receive $22.5 million from federal, state and local revenue sources, but as of now, it appears the school will be given $23.8 million.   The state plans to give PaliHi $6,542 per student, an increase of $12 per student from the 2009-10 school year. The state pays the school based on the average daily attendance rate (ADA), the number of students who attend school on a regular basis.   The school had 2,867 students enrolled at the end of October compared to 2,844 in October 2009. Sixty-eight of those students are attending Temescal Academy, an alternative school located on Temescal Canyon Road below the football stadium.   However, 2,743 of those students (97 percent) are attending school on a regular basis. Wood estimates that PaliHi will have an ADA of 2,710 for the academic year, so he calculated the budget on that assumption.   To come up with that figure, ‘I looked at our ADA trends in prior years to see how much the number has dropped off between the second month of school and the seventh month,’ Wood told the Palisadian-Post.   To encourage students to attend school, Director of Student Services Monica Iannessa has set up a Student Attendance Review Board.   ’Those students with four or more absences are being met with and advised by administrators, counselors and staff members,’ said PaliHi Principal Marcia Haskin, who added that the board has thus far identified 179 students.   The school also has a Pali Positive Attendance Program, where weekly drawings are held for students with perfect attendance. Students win PaliHi gear, gift certificates and tickets to sports games and other school events. danielle@palipost.com