School District CBO Robbins Says Goodbye To Martinez

After two and a half years as Chief Business Officer for the Martinez Unified School District, Liz Robbins is leaving as of Sept. 1 to take the same position with the Brentwood Unified School District. She leaves behind a state budget situation that school board president Vicki Gordon has called “insane.”

“It was a very hard decision to make,” Robbins said of her departure.

She lives in Oakley, and the Brentwood district is not only closer, but it doesn’t involve in the Highway Four commute getting to Martinez requires. As the mother of small children, she said the time she saves will be welcome.

Robbins will update the school board at its meeting on Monday about the district’s budget situation. It is a good news/bad news situation, she said, with various scenarios that could result in either no changes to the budget for this year, or serious cuts, depending on how much revenue comes into state coffers.

The good news, she said, is that the state funded education at the same levels as it did last year, so there are no major cuts so far.

“About $80 billion of the $86 billion spending plan is real money,” she said.

The bad news is if state estimates of higher tax revenue don’t come true, then “triggers” kick in, along with spending cuts. If the estimated revenue is $1 billion to $2 billion less, then there will be about $600 million in cuts to higher education and child care. If the estimates fall short by more than $2 billion, it could mean a shortfall for the district of just over $1 million. That, she said, would translate seven fewer days of school.

None of this information will be known until the state finance director determines whether the state’s budget estimates are accurate. That won’t be known until Dec. 15. Meanwhile, Robbins said, it’s a wait and see situation.

The school board meets Monday, Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. in the board room of the District office, 921 Susana St.