Schools

Teachers on Tenterhooks: End of State Budget Talks Sends Chill

La Mesa-Spring Valley district less likely to rescind layoff notices, one PTA leader says.

Teachers who received layoff notices from the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District won’t know their fate until May 15, officials said amid news that Gov. Jerry Brown has called off budget talks with Republicans in the state Legislature, ending a chance of a June special election to extend certain taxes.

Schools Superintendent Brian Marshall said Wednesday that “while the budget talks have been halted, we still do not know what that means to schools and the education budget in Sacramento—so nothing is certain yet.”

He said the K-8 district issued 113 layoff notices in March, but  “we will review staffing needs and budget as we move toward the final notice date of May 15.”

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But Patrick Shaw, superintendent of the Santee School District, said no layoffs are in the offing at his 10-school system.

On Wednesday,  Shaw said his district “will not be laying off probationary or permanent teachers for 2011-2012 school year.”

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In a “Dear Parents” letter posted earlier this month on the elementary district’s website, he noted the retirements of 37 teachers “prevented having to lay off teachers in 2010-2011.”

For his part, La Mesa-Spring Valley’s Marshall noted that the district can’t add teachers to the layoff list since the March 15 deadline has passed.

La Mesa-Spring Valley school board member Bill Baber expressed dismay at the latest developments in the state Capitol.

“I am disappointed that our governor and legislators could not work together to come up with a mutual solution to our state's budget problems,” Baber said Wednesday. “This is further poof that Sacramento is dysfunctional.”

Parent Jay Steiger, active in the Mount Helix Council of PTAs and a member of the La Mesa-Spring Valley district’s Budget Study Committee, said it is much less likely now that some notices will be rescinded—as they have in the past.

“Even if [the layoffs are] made final, it is also possible that some [teachers] will be rehired before the start of the school,” said Steiger, who ran for the school board last November. 

Rehires could happen if the state budget is enacted by mid-August and is better than estimated for district revenue, he said.

Steiger said: “Although the board sought to bring district expenses down with their endorsement of a ‘core program’ in February, if the final state budget does result in billions of new cuts to K-12, it will be difficult for the district to fund the program as envisioned.”

Without the prospect of tax revenues being extended, Steiger fears a “cuts-only” budget coming out of Sacramento.

“At this point, it is unclear what Governor Brown’s next move will be,” he said.  “He has indicated that he won’t use massive borrowing or one-time gimmicks to do a budget, but he also appears to be trying very hard to avoid the ‘cuts-only’ approach, which is estimated to result in $4 billion to $5.5 billion in cuts to education.”

A school-by-school list of layoffs isn’t available, but Steiger said: “My understanding is that this is likely to touch every school in the district.”

Steiger said he was “very frustrated and deeply disappointed” when he learned of Brown’s decision Tuesday to call off budget talks.  

“Other parents, with whom I have spoken, have echoed this disappointment,” he said.  “The children of California rely on responsible adults to make good decisions on their behalf. Unfortunately, too many in the Legislature did not act responsibly and placed ideology before the best interests of the 6 million children being educated in California's public schools and publicly funded charter schools.”

He said people are frustrated and they want to see some resolution,  “but years of polling have equally indicated overwhelming and bipartisan support in California for protecting K-12 funding in the budget.”

Some 12,400 students attend La Mesa-Spring Valley schools, he said, and “these children are not political. Their education should not be political either.”

On March 10, the Grossmont Union High School District board voted to issue layoff notices to at least 60 teachers—but none at Helix Charter High School, which operates under its own budget.

In Santee, schools chief Shaw said in his March letter: “All of our employees have made tremendous efforts to adjust to less funding for school budgets and larger classes while maintaining a quality program.”

Before learning of the breakdown in budget talks, Shaw said “the impact of not receiving the tax extension will mean $349 less in funding for each student” in his district.

Over the past two years, he said, Santee’s 10-school district has reduced its budget by about $7 million. 

An additional decrease in state funding “will result in $2.1 million less to the district and cause the Santee School District to drastically reduce current services that we offer students,” he said.


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