Santa Barbara teachers are celebrating. On Friday, the Santa Barbara Unified school district rescinded almost all 85 pink slips that were sent out to staff in March. As a result, teachers canceled the protest they planned for this Tuesday’s school board meeting.
Teachers and students have rallied against the pink slips since the board first approved them, primarily due to the arts and music positions that were on the proverbial chopping block.
Most recently, Santa Barbara High School (SBHS) theater students staged a silent protest in front of the school board on April 8.
Being silent was the protest. They were expected to perform a song from the musical Hadestown, but instead stood quietly for four minutes as the instrumental track played in the background. They pulled out a sign that read, “If you defund the arts, there won’t be any.” It was in response to their theater director, Gioia Marchese, being pink slipped, alongside multiple other arts and music positions.
Marchese is in her third year teaching at SBHS and said she finally felt like she established a community at the school. When she received the layoff notice, “it felt awful,” she said.
“I’m a single parent with a child in school trying to survive in the Santa Barbara rental market,” she told the Independent. “This looked like a stable job … so it really shook me to get a RIF [reduction in force] notice.”
She said that the pink slip “removed the blindfold,” and made her question how secure her job really is. “It’s demoralizing for teachers. To be hit with a notice creates a lasting imprint,” she added. However, she was proud of her students for “standing up for the arts.”
“To see them have the idea, organize it, and be so brave to stand there for so long and not waver — I was really moved,” she said.
Ultimately, though, Marchese’s RIF notice was rescinded, along with a majority of the others. In the district’s announcement, it said that it was able to avoid the large-scale layoffs but still meet its obligation to reduce its $9.4 million budget deficit. It did that by looking elsewhere for cuts, an approach repeatedly championed by the newest school boardmember, Celeste Kafri.
“After weeks of reviewing data on enrollment, staffing, and unfilled positions, the district identified a need to lay off only 3-5 employees,” its ParentSquare announcement reads. “Arts and music are not impacted by the final layoffs, and there are no layoffs in the elementary schools.”
A common criticism from teachers was asking why the district needed to send out so many layoff notices in the first place, causing unnecessary grief, when it knew that many would be ultimately rescinded.
“There are things you can’t plan for in March, like student course selections and where teachers will be needed, depending on their credentials,” explained board president Gabe Escobedo. “In the secondary space, you have to over-notice.”
Between March 15 and now, he said, they identified other ways to reduce expenses, such as analyzing bus routes to run fewer buses and operate the routes more efficiently, saving around $800,000. “Enrollment was a little higher in the secondary space, which helped retain positions due to need,” he added. Retirements, resignations, and cutting unfilled positions also helped.
“A while ago, I would have said we needed four or five layoffs in math, but then with retirements and resignations, we will have zero layoffs in math,” Escobedo said. “We closed some open positions viewed as not mission critical, too. We need to cut positions, but we want to keep people if we can.”
The board will vote to approve the final RIFs on May 13 during a special board meeting. In the meantime, teachers and families are breathing a sigh of relief. However, they think the RIF process could somehow be improved to avoid so much annual uncertainty.
“While we are relieved that many of our dedicated colleagues will be returning to their classrooms for the 2025-2026 school year, the process leading up to this decision has been incredibly stressful for our members,” said Hozby Galindo, president of the Santa Barbara Teachers Association. “Receiving a layoff notice — even a preliminary one — creates anxiety for educators and their families, and disrupts the stability our students deserve.”
District families — including students Naomi and Chloe Voigt and their mom, Michele, who have been particularly outspoken against the layoffs — also have remaining concerns, including reduced high school schedules that they say limit elective choices, ensuring the maximized use of Prop. 28 funding for art and music education, and holding the district accountable for its strategic arts plan.
“We are celebrating the wins, no arts layoffs,” the Voigts wrote in a letter to the school community, “but we must continue to push for restored high school course offerings and a full, well-rounded education for every student.”
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