San Juan Unified To Eliminate School Counselors In Latest Cuts

San Juan Unified School District will have fewer counselors available to help students navigate college admissions and overcome personal obstacles after the Board of Education voted Tuesday to eliminate jobs in an effort to slash its budget.

In its second round of cuts, the school district voted Tuesday to reduce its budget by $7.2 million and eliminate dozens of school counselors, librarians, teachers and other administrators.

The move means the student-counselor ratio will increase from 450 to one, to 1,000 to one. Currently the district employs 26 school counselors and nearly half will be eliminated as a result of the cuts.

The school district must cut $36.7 million in accordance with Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed state budget, which aims to eliminate deficit spending. Last month, the school district voted to cut $11.5 million in expenditures by ending adult education programs and school bus service to most of the district’s students.

The loss of school counselors will be a problem for students who plan to attend college, said Margaret Kane, parent of a senior at Mira Loma High School.

“Colleges require a counselor recommendation for admission,” Kane said.

Counselors also provide essential support to students in crisis. Last year, counselors helped students cope with the death of a student who committed suicide in a school bathroom, Kane said.

The Board does not want to end such services but is forced to make devastating cuts, said Board member Larry Miles.

“We hear you, we’re just trying to do the best we can with the resources available to us,” Miles said.

School counselors spoke about the importance of the services they provide, including identifying child abuse, preventing school violence and counseling families in crisis.

Board members said they struggle personally with the devastating decisions they are being forced to make.

“It’s very important to us as a patriotic duty to keep as many people as possible employed,” said Board member Lucinda Luttgen. “It’s not that we don’t need your service.”

Though the district has announced deep cuts twice this year, it must identify even more reductions. The district will announce the final, and largest round of cuts March 8. An estimated $18 million in additional cuts must be made in order for the school district to maintain a positive financial status.

If voters to not pass a ballot measure in June extending temporary taxes, the school district will be forced to slash its budget even further – by nearly $50 million, said Superintendent Pat Jaurequi. Such cuts would be devastating.

“If we get that number I don’t know what to do,” Jaurequi said. “If it (the ballot measure) does not pass, public education as many generations have enjoyed is in jeopardy in this state.”