Board of Education Approves Possible Cuts in Employees and Class Periods

The San Marino Board of Education adopted a resolution at last Monday’s meeting with the intent to reduce certificated positions by 11 full-time equivalents across the district, according to a newsletter.

is also not filling a vacant science position for the 2011-12 school year, meaning the district will have a total of 12 fewer full-time equivalents in the case that the proposed positions and class periods are cut.

This year’s resolution comes in the midst of a projected for the San Marino Unified School District for the 2011-12 school year, due to state budget cuts.

Twelve full-time equivalents have a dollar value of approximately $850,000 according to SMUSD Superintendent Gary Woods. That amount can vary by a few thousand considering the employee’s position and years of service.

The number differs significantly from the 48 full time equivalents—over a third of staff—the district proposed to be cut last year. Due largely to the Refuse to Lose campaign that raised over $4 million, massive cuts were not made.

Since the District does not yet know the extent of its 2011-12 budget, the layoffs may not occur, but by law the District is required to issue preliminary layoff notices for the following school year by March 15.

The reductions would eliminate eight full-time employees: one teacher per grade level for K-5 at and ; one sixth grade teacher and one secondary counselor at .

The remaining three full-time equivalents are comprised of cutting class periods for various subjects.

Foreign language and music classes are the most affected by the resolution, with the possibility of six total music class periods cut and six foreign language class periods cut district-wide.

“We work very closely with our principals trying to figure out if we can run a master schedule,” said Woods. “Ultimately we have to figure out if we can provide enough courses for kids to take to graduate from high school. So we have to start looking at what we have to mandatorily provide, like two years of PE and two years of foreign language and so forth to make sure we have those in place first and everything else becomes second priority.”

Other than ensuring students have access to mandatory classes, the only other criteria that influences lay-offs is seniority.

“There is nothing else you can do,” said Woods. “The law is very clear. You can’t determine it by performance or efficiency.”

In the case of class periods, Woods said the periods taught by teachers with the least seniority receive proposed cuts.

Depending on the district’s actual budget, final layoff notices are given in May and the SMUSD must submit a budget to the County by June 30.

The District is still waiting on a few vital factors that influence its budget, such as: the state budget, which is supposed to arrive every year in June but last year's was not approved until September; the San Marino Schools Foundation's suggested parent donation of $2000 per student; and the , covered in previous San Marino Patch articles. Woods said the Refuse to Lose campaign or special fundraising campaigns other than the San Marino Schools Foundation donation will not occur this year.

Woods approximates the district has about 3,150 students, so if every student had a parent that donated $2000 for that child, those donations would total $6,300,000.

“The governor is proposing some kind of special election in June so that could have a major impact on K-12 funding … so we may not get around to rendering our final determinations until July,” said Woods.

Due to various factors, the SMUSD has restored the vast majority of its layoffs the past three years, so it is possible that any laid-off staff may be re-hired once the SMUSD knows its complete budget.

“We’ve had fundraising scenarios that have worked in our favor [and] we’ve had state budget scenarios that have worked in our favor,” said Woods.

Federal job-saving funds were also given to school districts to preserve positions last year.

School enrollment, which is slightly down recently, also plays a role in how many teachers return, said Woods, since less students means less teachers are necessary.

“It’s such a complex conversation and it infuriates me every year because it’s not right,” said Woods. “It’s not how you conduct a business. I come from a business background and I look at schools as a business and everything seems to be backwards. I just wish the state could get its act together and use this crisis appropriately and make some good solid decisions for the future; our kids deserve that.”

Woods said there is no indication as to whether the state will submit its budget on time this year, but the next major step is the final lay-off notices issued in May.