Teachers and administrators are rolling up their sleeves to deal with expected budget cuts for the coming 2008-09 school year in San Benito County and they anxiously await the California budget's approval so they can make any necessary adjustments.
Teachers still are concerned about cutbacks to personnel and salaries, which are a hot topic in the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District, where they face potential pay decreases across the board of 4.1 percent. School officials and Aromas-San Juan Teachers Union representatives met last Friday for all-day negotiations on the matter, which must be decided on to avoid a state takeover of the district.
Meanwhile, everyone is holding their breath as the state budget is still not approved.
"Schwarzenegger's May Revise of the budget was an improvement over the original proposal for us, but it falls far short of funding education fully," said Susan Midori-Jones, a regional officer for the California Teachers Association.
She pointed out how many districts in San Benito County are enduring varied challenges while noting that the Hollister School District had experienced the greatest amount of layoffs and how the Aromas teachers face those planned salary cuts.
San Benito County Office of Education Superintendent Tim Foley confirmed the cuts to teachers' salaries were "absolutely being considered."
"Admin. and classified personal have already stepped up to the plate on this," Foley said, going on to say those rollbacks were "already in the books."
Fourth-grade teacher Wayne Funk with the Aromas-San Juan Unified District said the issue had progressed and that a strike was unlikely, noting that a fact-finding panel last Friday where negotiations were held all day and into the late evening.
"The district's position was that they could not make payroll in September," said Funk, adding that the district was proposing a 4.1 percent rollback in salaries along with a hard cap on health and welfare benefits.
"We were asking for 0 percent, just wanting what we currently have in salary and benefits."
Funk went on to explain that a financial report had been issued late last fall and it stated that a loan would be needed to carry the district over.
Officials brought in Sheila Vickers to oversee the fiscal matters, and she came up with a plan to cut money from areas of certified, classified and administration employees to prevent the district from imposing the 4.1 percent rollback. Classified and administration workers have accepted the deal, while the teachers have reached a tentative agreement on which union members will vote.
"At the meeting last Friday, we realized we needed to not break that deal," explained Funk. "So we came up with a deal which we will take back to our members to vote upon.
"If they ratify, then it will hold. If they vote against the agreement, the district will impose the 4.1 percent rollback and cap on benefits."
That rollback and cap constitute the district's "last and best final offer." However, the teachers union proposal is a tentative agreement between the union and district and it constitutes a better deal for the teachers. Ratifying it will allow procurement of the loan, which in turn will keep the state from taking over the district.
Funk declined to provide details of the tentative agreement, stating that CTA members are not yet aware of specifics.
"The CTA really does not want a state takeover or a strike," said Funk. "But the only possibility of a strike would have been if we had failed to reach an agreement on Friday and had the rollback and cap imposed on us."
The uncertainly, however, isn't limited to the Aromas-San Juan district. Teachers, administrators, trustees and superintendents are all hoping the state government soon will adopt a budget. An advisory committee has forwarded their recommendations, which include $2.5 billion in education funding over the current budget, to the budget conference committee. This panel is made up of leaders in the State Senate and Assembly who meet with the governor to close budget gaps through taxes and cuts.
"We won't know what we have to work with until the monkey business in Sacramento is finished," sighed Foley.
He went on to note that if the recommendations of the advisory committee are fully implemented that schools would operate as they do in a financially healthy year.
Hollister School District Superintendent Ron Crates expressed similar hopes for the budget but noted: "I don't see this as being good for the next year or two. Schools depend on state economics, and we all know how the state is doing.
"But we have been through this before. The most important thing is that we will not use a MasterCard to pay off a Visa; we will not saddle districts with unmanageable debt.
He went on to note the accomplishments of the Hollister School District in dealing with staff cuts. With a nearly $3 million slash to its 2008-09 budget, 30 positions had been slated in the spring for elimination. All but three of those employees are set to return, as officials made up the difference through retirements, others willfully vacating their positions and reducing hours and days worked for some people.
"Librarians and so on were not reduced by positions, but rather by time," Crates noted.
With the first day of school right around the corner, there's apprehension among school officials and educators. But Foley pointed out how school will start "whether we have a budget or not."
"Behind the doors of admin., there will be a lot of frustration, but education will continue," he said. "It's just that a lot of Maalox is going to be consumed."
Jeff Gatlin Jeff Gatlin is a staff writer at The Hollister Free Lance. You can call him at (831) 637-5566 or send him an email.
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