Federal stimulus funds and layoffs of support staff helped Ravenswood City School District, which has schools in Menlo Park and East Palo Alto, pass a 2009-2010 operating budget Thursday night that is 9 percent below last year's.

"This has been a very difficult and challenging year in terms of constant reductions in our budget," Superintendent Maria De La Vega told school board members Thursday night.

Reflecting the statewide fiscal crisis, next year's budget is $37 million, down from last year's budget of $42 million.

Ravenswood, serving East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, has an enrollment of 4,500 K-8 students in seven traditional schools and a child-development center, according to the district's Web site. It sponsors five charter schools, including a high school.

Seventy-five percent of the students are English-language learners and 95 percent meet low-income guidelines under the federal free and reduced-price lunch program.

De La Vega said two phases of cuts added to the challenge for staff.

"We had a $1.8 million cut earlier in the year and then another $1 million cut. It was very difficult for our staff. We're very concerned about next year and we will monitor things very closely."

Teacher layoffs were avoided, though support staff has been affected, De La Vega said.

More than half of the district's budget comes in the form of heavily restricted "categorical" funds from federal and state governments. Those funds must be spent on categories such as low-performing students, special education and transportation. Because of the budget crisis, some of those restrictions have been loosened, which helped the district fill its budget gap this year, De La Vega said.

Next year's budget maintains class sizes of 20 in grades K-3, and 29 in grades 4-8. But de la Vega said the 20-student cap in the lower grades would probably be lifted in 2010-2011.

The $1.8 million budget gap discovered in February was addressed by a special budget committee comprised of representatives of the schools, the city, local residents and the faith community.

Board member Sharifa Wilson said she attended a recent briefing on the state budget by State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, who warned that the federal stimulus money is for one time only and will not be available in 2010-2011.

"We really need to be more pro-active in how we're going to deal with the shortfall for 2009-2010 and especially for 2010-2011," Wilson said, adding that the financial picture is "very bleak."

The budget passed Thursday will be revisited in the fall when more information is available from Sacramento.

Board Chairman Larry Moody said he attended graduation ceremonies at four of the district's schools and was struck by the high level of commitment and pride of the parents.

"We sometimes lose sight of that picture," Moody said. "Those parents were totally excited by their sons' and daughters' graduations -- that they are Ravenswood graduates. Sometimes we're so invested in trying to stay afloat that we lose sight of the scenery."

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