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MyspaceFacing a possible shortfall of $10 million, Santa Barbara’s five school board members voted unanimously to try to bridge $8 million of that by imposing 10 days of unpaid leave on district teachers, administrators, and support staff. Whether they succeed or not depends on the school district’s ability to negotiate such an arrangement with the bargaining units representing employees. Negotiations have been scheduled for March 21 and 24. Boardmembers Kate Parker and Susan Christol Deacon pushed the most forcefully for furloughs — and for the largest number of furlough days — arguing that it would be better for the students and teachers alike to spread the pain evenly among as many workers as possible rather than to cut some while sparing others. Without such concessions, boardmembers agonized over the cuts they might well have to make to school health workers, librarians, and guidance counselors, all of whom have already suffered significant staffing reductions in recent years. Two years ago, the district reduced the number of guidance counselors by nine; six years ago, the board opted to eliminate all but one certificated librarian. One mother testified how the school nurse saved the day when her daughter had convulsions at school. “Her teacher was honest and told me she didn’t know what to do,” she recounted.
In the past four years, the district has been forced to trim $20 million from its budget, partly in response to declining enrollments, but mostly due to the state’s chronic budget deficit, now weighing in at $25 billion. If tax increases enacted by former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are not put before statewide voters and approved this June, the district would find itself short by $4.6 million. And if the plan to unify Santa Barbara elementary and secondary districts — two separate legal entities — falls through, it will be out another $6 million. That’s where the $10 million comes from. By law, teachers have to be notified by April that they may not have a job the next year; support staff — clerical, administrative, and facilities — have a few more weeks. Because of this $10-million question mark, more than 200 teachers — both tenured and yearly — will get notices that they might be receiving pink slips.
The good news, to the extent there is any, is that efforts to unify the school districts — which would result in higher per-pupil reimbursements from the state — has encountered no opposition. The only question is whether the state and county bureaucracies that process such requests can mobilize quickly enough to approve the application by the June deadline. The bad news, at least from the School Board’s perspective, is that it remains doubtful that Republican leaders in the State Legislature will allow Governor Jerry Brown to place his request to extend the tax increases to state voters. A two-thirds majority is required to place such a request on the ballot, and, currently, two Republicans are required in both the Assembly and the Senate to meet that threshold. Five Republicans had been negotiating with Brown, despite threats of political reprisals from party enforcers, like Tony Strickland, who represents Santa Barbara. Boardmember Kate Parker called out Strickland by name on Tuesday, urging anyone attending or watching the School Board meeting to contact Strickland to object.
What’s on the table is an intricate dance by which the school calendar is shortened by 10 days, five of which teachers currently spend on professional development and training. To make up the difference so students don’t lose actual class time, the district is proposing to add 15 minutes onto the end of every school day. From the teachers’ standpoint, this translates to a pay cut of 5.4 percent. The teachers have agreed to go without pay increases for each of the last three years. While other districts have experienced work furloughs, this would mark the first time Santa Barbara has done so.
Flying in the face of budget constraints, the board voted — in a separate action — to reinstate $95,000 in funding to keep outreach worker Ismael Huerta on the district payroll through the end of next year. Huerta works with many kids falling through the cracks and especially with those in danger of gang involvement. He was praised by parents, students, and fellow school employees for making a significant difference.
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Comments
Start laying off some of the dozens of $100K+ a year administrators! What a crock...
reality_check (anonymous profile)
March 10, 2011 at 9:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The teacher's union want it all, and are only willing to sacrifice the childeren's education. It should be evident that the union is in the business of making money first, piling on member benefits second and educating our children last. Isn't California already one the country's worst in education and with that in mind, the union's only concession is to cut the calendar.
We really need to see where all this money is going, cut the fat, make the teachers save their own money for retiarement and not leach of the tax payers, and give the schools some autonomy. This school district has so few legal students and huge tax revenue base. There must be a way to make this work.
Somebody in the middle is taking way too much money off the table and the kids and our country's future will suffer. And you should care because they are going to be the ones taking care of you when you are old and dependent.
Sam11 (anonymous profile)
March 12, 2011 at 9:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why is it that one of the reasons public schools are so against the voucher system that they claim the schools will lose money if it were approved?
If it costs (I have no idea what the actual cost is) let's say for the sake of argument $4000 annually to educate a child in the public school system, and that child is taken out of the school and put in a private school using funds from a voucher, than that means the public school doesn't have to spend the $4000 to educate the child. Of course the schools lose funding if a child is taken out of the school but if taking the child out of the school means the school loses money that means the system is padding the bill for each student; right? What am I missing?
The doesn't even take into account that educating a student in a private school would cost less ultimately because there would be the administrative costs.
billclausen (anonymous profile)
March 13, 2011 at 3:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Enforcing immigration law would be the best way to control K-12 education costs. In addition, there would be less pressure from illegal alien activists to reduce academic rigor, as led to the restructuring of GATE.
Source:
http://www.fairus.org/site/News2?page...
"In California, the $7.7 billion spent annually educating the children of illegal immigrants—nearly 13% of the overall 2004-5 education budget—could:
* Cover the education budget shortfall for the 2004-05 school year, estimated by the Legislative Analyst Office at $6 billion and nearly cover the $2 billion reduction this year from the Proposition 98 formula.
* Or, the remaining $1.7 billion could pay the salaries of about 31,000 teachers and reduce per student ratios, or it could furnish 2.8 million new computers—enough computers for about half of the state’s students.
* Prevent educational shortfalls estimated at $9.8 billion over the past four years that have impacted on “…class size, teacher layoffs, shorter library hours and fewer counselors, nurses, custodians and groundskeepers.” (See Los Angeles Times, March 11, 2005)"
revisionist (anonymous profile)
March 13, 2011 at 6:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bill, you are missing the infrastructure costs. The schools are built to facilitate a certain number of students; if you decrease the number, the cost has to be spread over fewer students. If the school is forced to work with the same $$ per student, and infrastructure is fixed, then the costs have to come out of variable expense, like teacher pay.
Teachers are not overpaid in Santa Barbara County. Some administrators certainly are.
Revisionist should remember that, until and only if the U.S. Constitution is changed, the children born here are U.S. Citizens, even if their parents are illegal aliens.
rambler (anonymous profile)
March 14, 2011 at 11:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)