Local News RSS Feed
Print Story
E-mail StoryLocal school officials ponder drastic cuts
| Friday, Feb 29 2008 5:54 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Feb 29 2008 5:54 PM
School districts across Kern County are preparing for what could be unprecedented cuts to education, including teacher layoffs, class size increases and the elimination of electives.
Our readers recommend:
Loading Stories
Related Stories:
The governor has proposed cutting school funding by $4.4 billion, or 10 percent of the total. Districts have until March 15 to notify teachers and administrators of layoffs.
While nothing’s certain, this is some of the anticipated pain:
• Rosedale Union School District may lose 30 teachers in cutting $2.1 million. That would take the budget back to a few years ago when the district had 1,000 fewer students and one less elementary school, said John Mendiburu, assistant superintendent of business.
“I’ve been in public education for over 10 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.
The district will make staffing decisions at a special meeting March 5.
“We looked at administrative things, then non-instruction and then instruction,” Superintendent Jamie Henderson said. “The problem is, the biggest chunk of money is going to the classroom. When they want $2.1 million, we’re not slimming down, we’re cutting into muscle.”
• The Kern High School District stands to lose about $24 million, which could equate to 90 teachers, seven counselors, eight managers and 15 other staff, officials say.
But some jobs may just be moved to new schools.
Independence and Mira Monte high schools open this fall, each requiring 40 to 50 teachers for freshmen and sophomores, spokesman John Teves said. And Frontier, which opened in 2006, will need 10 teachers for its first senior class.
But that raises another set of funding problems.
Some schools face a double whammy — budget cuts on top of boundary changes that divert students to the new high schools.
School funding is based on student enrollment, so schools gaining pupils may be able to save jobs. But for schools such as Foothill and West that will each lose 300 students, there may be layoffs.
KHSD hopes to save positions by increasing class sizes and stopping the practice of paying teachers to teach additional sections. One teaching position equals five of those extra class periods.
“When the dust settles and they’ve got it all figured out, I’m not convinced that in some areas, there might be more teachers than you have jobs,” said Mitch Olson, president of the Kern High Faculty Association.
Schools recently received staffing formulas, attendance projections and details of the budget cuts.
Their administrators are determining how to maintain core curriculum needs, which could mean limiting elective periods and increasing class sizes, said Frontier High Principal Bill Bruce.
• The Bakersfield City School District stands to lose $19 million next year and may eliminate three administrators and an undisclosed number of teachers and staff, according to Teri Schallock, chief business official.
Superintendent Mike Lingo declined to answer questions about the district preparations. But there’s “massive concern” among teachers, said Carol Reichert, president of the Bakersfield Elementary Teachers Association.
“It’s ugly, it’s real ugly,” she said.
Some teachers wonder if it’s time to apply elsewhere.
“They have to,” Jennifer Scott, an English teacher at Compton Junior High School, said. “They have to pay their mortgage.”
Henderson said as a superintendent, he wants to tell teachers to wait it out. But as a person, he said, he knows they should start looking.