Last night at the School Board meeting, we rescinded all of the layoff notices that we gave certificated teachers in March. This was obviously due to Measure B passing. So that means there will not be any layoffs of classroom teachers, assistant principals, and other “certificated” personnel (which includes some literacy teachers, etc.).
Now, this doesn’t mean there won’t be any cuts, because there will. And these cuts may affect other positions in the District. However, fortunately those cuts will be limited to probably around $200K-$400K. Basically we have a few things to be thankful for:
- Measure B passing ($700K-$800K in extra revenue)
- The District improving our Special Ed program (essentially insourcing services) and saving at least $600K
- Extra revenue from the increased enrollment this year (approx $400K)
- Some Federal Stimulus money — not alot, but almost $100K
So, the cuts this year will still be hard, but they won’t be nearly at the level of severity had Measure B failed. Also, unless the State of California decides to dramatically increase our funding for the following school year (2010-2011), we will have additional cuts to make a year from now as some of the reductions we’re now making (like a reduction in salary for employees) are currently only a one-year commitment. Lastly, within the next year, we’ll need to discuss putting a new measure on ballot to renew the current Measure D parcel tax, which would otherwise expire at the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
But overall a great week!! Thanks again to the whole community for working together on this process. It’s not done, but I’m feeling a lot better than I did through most of this year!
