School Board: There Will Be No Layoffs Despite Budget Cuts

Despite facing the worst budget crisis in district history, the Los Alamitos Unified School District will not have any layoffs during the 2011-12 school year, the school board announced tonight.

At the board meeting Tuesday night, board President Karen Russell said the board decided to not lay off any district employees, either classified and credentialed, because “layoffs are disruptive to students, staff members and schools and do not meet our mutual interests.”

The decision is driven by two important funding sources: the Federal Job Act fund and the district’s reserve funds. The Federal Job Act fund will provide $1.8 million, and the rest of the funds will come from reserve funds, which the district attributes to “prudent financial management, employee salary concessions and parent generosity.”

This news comes on the heels of a budget forecast that Superintendent Gregory Franklin says has been the district's worst. Depending on whether California legislators put a tax extension on the ballot, the district’s $90-million budget could be slashed by either $200,000 or $3.28 million.

Thanks to the board’s frugality and the Federal Job Act fund, district employees will not have to fall victim to the state’s budget problems, said Russell. More important, the news is positive for students in the LAUSD, because the decision to maintain all teachers means that class sizes will not increase, added Russell.

In a statement read on behalf of the board, Russell credited the bargaining between employee associations and the district with seeking instructional excellence, employee welfare and financial stability.

“We trust our employees to come to the table and discuss what we need to do, and everyone is very open about what needs to be done to maintain excellence,” she said.

Board member Jeffrey Barke commented on the good news, saying the only way the board was able to save jobs was by being financially conservative in the past.

“We don’t make the easy decisions; we make the difficult decisions so that in times like this it’s easy to say no, there are no layoffs,” Barke said.

Barke also said the future still seems bleak and that “times are definitely going to get tougher.”

For now, though, district employees can rest assured that their jobs are secure for the next academic year.