• Burke, Williams & Sorensen
• Liebert Cassidy Whitmore
• Lozano Smith
• Orbach Huff Suarez & Henderson

Having a variety of legal firms allows the District flexibility to select the firm with the most expertise and experience for a particular matter. Since these firms represent many clients in the education field the possibility of conflict of interest could arise, the District will have the option to easily select alternative counsel.

The attached document lists the contracts executed by the Superintendent or designee for the months of April and May 2019.

In an effort to expedite the award and contract for the plumbing work in the locker room at Sobrato, Staff received preliminary Board approval on May 21, 2019. 

Public advertisement took place in a local newspaper (San Jose Post Record) for two consecutive weeks and bids were opened on May 29, 2019. Staff recommends approval to contract with Michael Venosta Plumbing for the base bid amount of $312,250 plus alternate #2 to demolish the existing piping for $11,600. There is an additional district change order allowance of $30,000 for unforeseen conditions that is not reflected in the base bid. The total projected construction cost is $353,850.    

Attached are the following documents which were provided at the prior Board meetings:

• Summary of income, expenses and fund balance for all funds
• Standard Account Code Structure (SACS) financial reports for all funds reflecting 2018-19 estimated actuals and 2019-20 proposed budget

Education Code Section 42127 states that, “no later than 45 days after the Governor signs the annual Budget Act, the school district shall make available for public review any revisions in revenues and expenditures that it has made to its budget to reflect the funding made available by that Budget Act.”  Note that this does not specify that revisions must be made; rather, it requires that any revisions that the District chooses to make be available for public review within 45 days after the Governor signs the budget.  If the District decides to make a budget revision as a result of the Budget Act, those revisions would be presented to the Board in August 2019.

AB 1200 requires that multi-year financial projections be included as part of the budget and interim reporting periods. Districts must certify their financial status at each reporting period as one of the following:

• Positive: LEA will meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year and subsequent two fiscal years
• Qualified: LEA may not meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year or two subsequent years
• Negative: LEA will not meets its financial obligations for the remainder of the current fiscal year or for the subsequent fiscal year

Multi-year financial projections are a tool used by the district to ensure that it will be able to meet its financial obligations in the current and two subsequent fiscal years. If the district is not able to meet its financial obligations for the current or two subsequent fiscal years, the county superintendent of schools must notify the district’s governing board and the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the determination. The county office must also adhere to Education Code section 42127.6 in assisting the district. This assistance can include assigning a fiscal expert to advise the district on financial problems, conducting a study of the financial and budgetary conditions of the district, and submitting a proposal for addressing the district’s fiscal condition.

In evaluating the multi-year projection, much attention is focused on the “bottom line” which demonstrates the district’s undesignated, unappropriated fund balance. If the bottom line demonstrates a positive unappropriated fund balance, this amount may be used by the Governing Board and/ or Superintendent to improve educational programs, increase employee compensation or spend in other categories. However, if the unappropriated fund balance is negative, the budget must be adjusted by the amount of the deficit spending to sustain the recommended minimum reserve levels under AB 1200 guidelines (currently 3%).  The projection must be viewed comprehensively and the district must determine what compounding effects using any or all of the unappropriated fund balance will have on the projection in the current and future years.

There are inherent limitations with any projection of financial data because projections are based on certain criteria and assumptions rather than on exact calculations. These limitations include issues such as accuracy of baseline data, unpredictable timing of negotiations, enrollment trends, and changing economic conditions at the state, federal and local levels. Therefore, the multi-year projection should be evaluated as a trend based on certain criteria and assumptions rather than a prediction of exact numbers. The multi-year projection is updated throughout the year, including at least at each interim financial reporting period and before settling negotiations to maintain the most accurate and meaningful data.

The proposed term of the Assistant Superintendents' new agreement is July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022. 

Effective July 1, 2019, the District shall pay the Assistant Superintendent an annual salary of one hundred and eighty four thousand, nine hundred seventy-six dollars ($184,976) and an annual stipend of one thousand five hundred ($1500) for a Master’s degree.  Four steps on the salary schedule include an approximate 3% increase from one step to the next.

The Governing Board of the Morgan Hill Unified School District must act upon a resolution to eliminate a classified position due to lack of work in order to meet the California Education Code 45308 statutory requirement to serve a layoff notification to the affected employee not later than 60 days prior to the effective date of lay-off.

Morgan Hill Unified School District has identified a classified position that shall be discontinued from the school district budget for the 2019-2020 school year and converted to another position. 

The classified position of Groundskeeper/MOTT Rotary Mower Operator is no longer needed in the District.  In the past, operating the MOTT lawn mowing machine required special training due to the complexity of the machine.  The District created this job classification at three ranges higher than a Groundskeeper in pay in order to maintain a trained MOTT mower as part of the groundskeeping crew.  Recently, however, the MOTT mower is not used as frequently and will soon be removed entirely from the fleet of lawn mowing machines. The MOTT mower operates on a diesel engine and will be retired due to not meeting emissions guidelines. The District, however, owns other lawn mowing machines that can be safely operated by all Groundskeepers with appropriate training. Groundskeeping equipment is refreshed and updated periodically, and all Groundskeepers receive training on the safe and appropriate use of all equipment and machines.   

Instead of one specific job classification to be in charge of all lawn mowing across the District, it is more efficient for all Groundskeepers to be trained and able to assume all groundskeeping duties at the sites, including pruning, trimming, fertilizing, and mowing. Since all Groundskeepers have equivalent duties, it is unfair and inefficient to have a classification of one employee at a higher range of pay completing a narrower scope of duties. Eliminating the position of Groundskeeper/MOTT Rotary Mower Operator and instead having an entire crew of Groundskeepers trained to use various types of equipment increases efficiency. The groundskeeping crew will not decrease as a result of this layoff, since the Groundskeeper/MOTT Rotary Mower Operator position will be converted to Groundskeeper.

The District has one incumbent Groundskeeper/MOTT Rotary Mower Operator who will be given the 60 day layoff notice.  The affected employee, as part of the 60 day layoff process, will be offered a position as Groundskeeper in the District. In addition, the affected employee will have the opportunity to test and interview for other promotional opportunities within the District.  In an effort to mitigate the impact to the affected employee and and discuss impact to the entire groundskeeping crew, several meetings have been held with MHCEA, the incumbent employee, the Grounds Foreperson, supervisor, and Director.