The following letter was sent out jointly from the Superintendent, School Board, and San Carlos Teachers Association today regarding the March 15th day for potential termination notices to teachers. The letter pretty much says it all.
To the San Carlos Community,
We are writing to inform you about a difficult step the San Carlos School District (SCSD) trustees had to take. At the March 11th Board meeting, the trustees voted unanimously to notify a number of teachers that their positions with the District may not exist in the 2010/2011 school year, which starts this September. This letter is to give you some context for that decision, and hopefully answer some questions you may have regarding these notices, which teachers will receive on March 15th. Please know that everyone —the Board, the District and the San Carlos Teachers Association (SCTA)—is working together to minimize the impacts this action will have. In many ways, the notifications that will be sent out over the next week reflect the District’s preparation for the “worst case.” While that must be done to protect as much of our educational program as possible, it is our sincere hope that we can find a way to retain our great teachers and minimize the impact on our children.
As background, you may be aware that the California state budget crisis is having a major impact on the SCSD (and indeed all school districts in the state), with our district facing a $2.8 million budget shortfall. In response, the District eliminated five district office positions last November, and is looking at restructuring certain programs and improving efficiencies to save money across the District. Revenue enhancement measures, including writing grant proposals and running fee-based summer and after school programs, are also being aggressively pursued. Even with these changes, we still have a significant deficit, which we can no longer cover out of reserves because those have been exhausted by the State’s long-term financial crisis. While an additional parcel tax is a theoretical possibility, times are hard for many San Carlos families, and we are already facing the need to renew our 2003 parcel tax before it expires in June, 2011. Given all of this, we unfortunately must look at reducing compensation expense to close the remaining gap. In so doing, the district is considering the possibility of increasing class sizes at certain grades, which would in turn eliminate some teaching positions.
By law, if a school district is even considering reducing or eliminating a position currently occupied by a “certificated” employee (which includes teachers), the district must give notice to that teacher by March 15th of the prior school year. Even though these are commonly referred to as “pink slips,” they are not termination notices. Rather, they are a notification that the District may eliminate/reduce a certificated employee’s position for the following school year. The District can rescind these notices at any time, as happened last year after the Measure B parcel tax was passed. However, the law is very clear—if a school district does not deliver these potential termination notices by March 15th, it cannot eliminate those positions for the following school year, regardless of how necessary that might be to balance the budget.
The list of which teachers receive these notices is based on very strict criteria mostly related to their seniority and their qualifications to teach the specific areas or programs that may be eliminated. If termination notices are rescinded, they would essentially be rescinded in seniority order. The identity of the notified teachers is confidential information, and the District will not publicize it. Individual affected teachers may themselves decide whether and in what manner they wish to share the information.
It is frustrating to everyone that preliminary lay-off notices must be given now because we have very little information on what next year’s education funding will look like. We hope to know more in May, when the Governor’s “May Revise” budget is issued, but recent history has shown that even that is not a particularly good forecast for what the Legislature will ultimately decide. If a conservative forecast at that time shows the District’s financial situation to have improved relative to the “worst case scenario,” it is likely the District will rescind as many of the preliminary termination notices as possible. However, the timing for this is tight, because by law teachers must be notified no later than May 14th of their final employment status for the 2010-11 school year.
We know that this process will cause anxiety among the affected teachers and our community, who do not want to see great staff leave. However, we must comply with the law. The District and the San Carlos Teachers Association are working together to keep our employees fully-informed, and will continue to look for ways to rescind as many of the notices as possible.
This is a very difficult, heart-wrenching situation, as it affects the lives of wonderful people who have served our children well. But our district, and our community, are strong enough to get through it if we support one another as we strive to continue providing an excellent education for our children.
Sincerely,
Craig Baker
Superintendent of Schools
Sarah Amos
President, SCTA
Mark Olbert
President, Board of Trustees
