School leaders in San Jose and San Francisco faced difficult decisions on Tuesday, including possible teacher layoffs and campus closures, as they try to close large budget deficits.
The San Francisco Unified School District board held a meeting on Tuesday night as they were vote to finalize and authorize preliminary layoff notices for 559 employees, or about 6% of the district's workforce.
Of those being considered for layoffs, 395 are teachers. The remainder are office workers, custodians and bus drivers. The board also will consider preliminary layoff notices in the coming months for another 129 employees who work in the central office.
The school district says it needs to make the cuts to help close a $113 million deficit for next year.
The board is first deciding on the number of layoffs, not yet who those employees will be. The first round of pink slips will be sent out by March 15, the district says. The teachers union is pleased to see that the administration will share in this sacrifice.
"I think what's important about this budget is that for the first time we're seeing significant cuts to the central office, permanent ones," said Frank Lara, executive vice president of United Educators of San Francisco. "We can't just keep cutting from school sites when we have our overbloated central office, and that's been made aware through many reports. So, I think it's a step in the right direction, reducing the central office to that degree, but the instability is not what we want."
The meeting on Tuesday night was at capacity, some people were watching it outside in an overflow room.
Mother Reina Tello and her child Alan were watching the meeting very closely.
“There’s no way that one educator can spread themselves thin enough to be able to give a quality education to 30,” Tello said.
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They weren’t alone. There was a public comment portion of the meeting that lasted more than an hour as students, parents and educators spoke out.
SFUSD Superintendent Dr. Maria Su said that student needs will still be met.
“Through this process, I have worked to create a school staffing model that ensures we have full classrooms and that each of our classrooms will have a qualified teacher in it,” she said.
In San Jose, the Franklin-McKinley School District board met Tuesday night and they voted to close three schools because of falling enrollment.
The following schools that are closing are:
- McKinley Elementary School
- Los Arboles Elementary School
- Ramblewood Elementary School
The district says enrollment has plummeted the past 14 years, which has led to a budget deficit of almost $23 million. Reaction has been sharp, especially for parents at Jason Dahl Elementary School, which was at risk of closure.
In Fremont, the Fremont Unified School District will receive a plan to lay off about 200 workers to close a deficit of $30 million.
If you’re wondering why this crisis across the Bay Area? Educators sapid that it’s all over the state.
“The truth is California is no 24 out of 50 states in investments. California has not invested enough into its public school systems and so, we’re seeing cuts all over the state,” Lara said.
