MDUSD to Send Lay-Off Notices to 111 Teachers, Workers

It is becoming an annual ritual in the , beset by state budget cuts and declining enrollment: The board of trustees reluctantly voting to approve laying off scores of teachers and other employees.

The school board voted Tuesday to approve laying off 111 teacher and other certified employees, the Contra Costa Times reported. The board had expected to lay off 69 more employees but those jobs were spared because of retirements and attrition, said Julie Braun-Martin, assistant superintendent for personnel services.

The lay-off notices will go out in time to meet the May 15 state deadline. All the board members expressed regret about the lay-offs, with board President Gary Eberhart blasting the state Legislature for failing to put proposed tax extensions on the June ballot and trustee Cheryl Hansen raising the idea of the district once again attempting to get voters to approve a parcel tax that would provide more local control over revenues.

The district failed to convince voters to approve the Measure D parcel tax in 2009, which would have brought in about $7 million a year to the district, according to the Crazy in Suburbia blog. Although 59 percent of voters—the majority—said "yes" to the $99 parcel tax, it received far less than the required two-thirds support needed to pass it.

The district had better results last spring when voters said yes to a $348 million bond measure for campus building upgrades and new technology, As a bond measure, Measure C didn't require two-thirds of voters to approve it, and it passed with 61 percent.

At the time, the district was facing the prospect of laying off 200 teachers and had lost $30 million in funding over the past few years.

Measure C funds, however, can be used only for capital improvements—fixes to aging school campuses that run the gamut from basic repairs to new electrical, lighting and security systems and classroom technology upgrades. The funds can't be used for personnel costs.

Indeed, at Tuesday's meeting, while voting to lay off teachers, trustees agreed to spend $9.1 million in Measure C money and other non-general fund sources to upgrade the district's high schools. The bond money also will be used to build solar projects, construction of which will begin in June. Those solar projects are expected to save the district more than $200 million over 30 years in energy costs, the Times reported.