Though San Diego Unified has nearly closed its budget gap through boosting class sizes and other cuts, the school district could still be affected by state cuts to public health programs, school district spokesman Linda Zintz said Monday.
The San Diego Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting Program, for instance, could lose all of its $1.3 million in funding under one budget proposal being weighed by the state. That would mean more than 7,500 pregnant and parenting teens would lose access to support services, including immunization programs.
Another plan would slash its funding so that only 504 teens would be served. The program teaches pregnant and parenting teens the skills to be better parents, including information about health, family violence and family planning, and helps keep them in school. It is funded by the State Department of Health Services, the County of San Diego, and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Another endangered program is Cal-Learn, a county-funded program that falls under the state CalWORKS program, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating. It currently costs roughly $834,000 and includes additional case management for pregnant and parenting teens.
Zintz calculated that if those two programs are eliminated, San Diego Unified could lose as much as $676,000 annually in attendance funding for pregnant and parenting teens who cannot stay in school because of the loss of the programs.