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School district proposes dramatic teacher pay cuts

BY JORGE BARRIENTOS, Californian staff writer
jbarrientos@bakersfield.com | Friday, Mar 05 2010 08:00 PM

Last Updated Friday, Mar 05 2010 08:00 PM

The Greenfield Union School District in south Bakersfield is asking its teachers to take an 11.5 percent pay cut to help prevent layoffs and save $2.5 million, a move local and state school officials call unprecedented.

Proposed salary cuts and teacher layoffs are being laid out at a whole series of local school districts to meet state budget demands and prepare for March 15, the date they must send pink slips --layoff warnings -- to certificated staff, including teachers.

Greenfield, in its initial proposal in labor negotiations, asked teachers to take the cut to avoid possible teacher layoffs, Superintendent Chris Crawford said. Budget planning is "extremely difficult," he said, because districts must set out plans while the state budget outlook is up in the air.

Other school officials locally and around the state said the proposed salary cuts are extreme.

"This is one of the most draconian proposals I've ever seen," said Mike Ford, a 40-year representative with the California Teachers Association assigned to Greenfield.

The proposal is a first step in labor negotiations, but Ford said, "At this point we're not negotiating." Ford said he hoped Greenfield could cut other things before teacher pay.

Retirements and teacher job shares have helped Greenfield, which has about 350 teachers, but things like furloughs are still a possibility. The district is doing anything to avoid layoffs, Crawford said.

At other districts, Fruitvale School District on Tuesday will vote on laying off four elementary teachers, a district clerk, two custodians, five special education aides, three library clerks and a few others.

Fruitvale, one of the highest-performing school districts in Kern County with roughly 3,200 students and about 150 teachers, must close a $1 million budget gap. The district has cut roughly $1.8 million in the last three years.

"We consider this a minimum at this point," said Robert Harte, Fruitvale's chief business officer. "Hopefully we don't get any further reductions from the state. We're aware that's a possibility."

The Bakersfield City School District recently proposed to cut the equivalent of 120 full-time positions, mostly teachers, as it tries to close a $5.5 million shortfall from next year's budget. BCSD, the largest elementary school district in the state, has lost roughly $25 million from its budget in the last two years.

Rosedale Union School District is looking to cut close to $1 million. Panama-Buena Vista School District does not expect to lay off teachers, but officials said it still expects to make cuts. Last March, facing a $3.5 million deficit, Panama-Buena Vista issued 77 teacher layoff notices.

Assuming the proposal stays as is, Kern High School District will have to cut $8.7 million from its budget. A special board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

A spokesman for KHSD said Friday no specifics were available regarding proposed certificated layoffs, but district officials would address it during the meeting.

Although layoff notices and budget cuts are all too common in recent years for local school districts, school leaders this year have described current budget outlooks as the worst yet.