Nearly 1,000 Teachers Get Layoff Notices (CA)
May 17, 2010
Almost 1,000 Inland teachers received final layoff notices this week, though furloughs or other concessions could b ring an unknown number of those teachers back to the classroom.
Under California law, today is the deadline for school officials to notify teachers if they will not have jobs in 2010-11. Despite the deadline, several districts are continuing to work on furlough deals that could allow them to bring back some, though not likely all, of the laid-off teachers.
More than 2,000 Inland teachers received preliminary pink slips in March from school districts facing shrinking revenues because of declines in state funding due to the recession.
Andy and Tiana Fox, teachers at Temecula’s Ysabel Barnett Elementary, both received preliminary notices. This was the third straight year one or both of them received layoff notices, and they suspected this year would turn out differently than the previous two, when they kept their jobs, Andy Fox said.
"This year, the writing was on the wall," he said.
When the final notices were issued, Tiana Fox received one, but Andy Fox, who has worked in the Temecula district a year longer than his wife, did not.
The Foxes have two young children, and they’re hopeful they can get by until Tiana can get rehired by the school district. Temecula teachers have already agreed to take furloughs so the odds of a job opening up before school starts are slim.
"It’s been hard," Andy Fox said. "It’s going on a three-year deal, and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel."
School districts have fewer options for keeping teachers employed this year. They’ve already spent down reserve funds, cut back or eliminated services such as busing, and in some cases, clo sed schools.
Last year, federal stimulus funding allowed districts to rescind nearly all of the layoff notices issued. Districts have not heard about getting any such federal windfall again this year. State funding, the backbone of local school finances, has continued to drop.
To save their jobs and those of their co-workers, teachers in many Inland districts have agreed in recent weeks to take unpaid days off or make other cost concessions.
"Furlough days in essence saved over 300 jobs" in the Corona-Norco Unified School District, said Bill Fisher, president of the Corona-Norco Teachers Association. The association has 2,455 members including teachers, counselors and nurses.
Corona-Norco sent out more than 300 preliminary notices in March, but only 19 people received final notices this week.
In Lake Elsinore, 90 percent of teachers voted in favor of furloughs and class-size increases, allowing the district to rescind more than 90 percent of the preliminary layoff notices.
"You really have to applaud that," Assistant Superintendent Kip Meyer said.
Murrieta Valley and Colton Joint issued notices, but later rescinded them all. Some districts avoided pink slips altogether, either through furlough agreements or other cost-cutting.
Other districts are close to reaching deals but failed to in time to prevent final notices from going out. Alvord Unified School District sent 124 final layoff notices before reaching a tentative agreement that will save what Superintendent Wendel Tucker called "a significant number" of jobs.
Riverside Unifi ed School District’s board approved 375 notices before negotiating teams agreed to five furlough days and other reductions. That would save $5.1 million, which would be applied to reducing layoffs. Those negotiations will continue Monday and Tuesday.
Teachers in Yucaipa-Calimesa Unified School District have a tentative agreement that, if ratified, may allow the district to rehire 26 of the 64 people who received layoff notices, said credential analyst Jill Castanon.
San Jacinto officials worked feverishly this week to try to reach an agreement with teachers over furloughs, but weren’t able to come up with anything in time to stop final notices from going out to 15 teachers, assistant superintendent Diane Perez said. The district and the teachers’ union are scheduled to meet with a mediator Tuesday.