Trustees approve $3M budget cuts

Morgan Hill Times
April 14, 2008
http://morganhilltimes.com/news/240655-trustees-approve-3m-budget-cuts

School trustees have reluctantly approved their budget committee's recommended reductions for the next school year.

The board expects to slash about $3 million from its 2008-09 school budget, based on a state budget shortfall of $14 billion, and is planning accordingly by serving layoff notices to some 33 district employees. Another 24 positions that are already vacant will not be filled.

On top of that, nine administrative positions might be reassigned, and eight specialty teachers received layoff notices.

"When we do reductions, we try to stay as far away from the classroom as possible," Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini said.

California school have sent nearly 14,000 layoff notices to teachers, according to the California Teachers Association, meaning that roughly 4 percent of the state's educators could be out of jobs.

Of the proposed cuts at the local level, almost $2 million will be slashed from the district's general budget, money that would pay for custodial, district office and clerical positions.

"Having more staff at sites is beneficial, but we can't afford it," Tognazzini said.

About $1 million of the reductions will come from special programs; no details have been provided yet on which programs will be affected, as the $1 million are state funds for certain programs and which programs are affected has not yet been announced.

School board members expressed frustration that they don't have real numbers on how much would be cut, since the state budget won't be released until possibly October. But, the budget reductions they approved at Tuesday's meeting are due by June 30 or the district faces financial penalties from the state.

"It's been said before and again and again, we're flying blind here," School Board Trustee Bart Fisher said. "We continue to have to make decisions without all of the information we have to have. We have to be overly cautious, this is potentially affecting employees."

Fellow trustee Julia Hover-Smoot agreed.

"It's heartbreaking, we just started to make improvements and we're struck with this fiscal disaster," she said. She emphasized that the reductions are statewide, and not unique to Morgan Hill Unified School District.

Unlike Fisher, Hover-Smoot doesn't think board members were being overly cautious. On the contrary, she feared the reductions would be much worse than they were planning for.

"The rumors are ugly," she said. "There's a lot of talk that it will be much worse."

This scenario isn't anything new to teachers who've worked in California in recent years. In 2004, the district faced a $2.8 million cut.

Trustee Don Moody said this is actually the silver lining on a dark cloud.

"The good news is, everyone understands it because they've been through it before," he said.

Still, Moody said he doesn't like that they have to pass out pink slips without knowing if the employees receiving them will really be let go.

"You hope the reality is they will be called back," he said. "But some of these folks won't like that they got a pink slip and will seek work elsewhere. The unfortunate thing is the people who get the notices are the new teachers who are on probation, and they may have to muddle through this for so many years. I wouldn't like that."

Service Employees International Union Chapter Chair Pam Torrisi said at the Tuesday board meeting that she understood the district operates on formulas, but the reductions in workforce were difficult anyway.

"It's something I've lost a lot of sleep over," she said. "It's devastating to certain people, it's very hard for those losing their job, hours, or benefits."