February 25, 2009
VUSD to consider layoffs, other cuts
School officials in Vista have recommended sending preliminary layoff notices to nearly 200 teachers and increasing class sizes in first through third grades to try to close a massive $16 million projected budget shortfall in the next fiscal year.
Vista Unified School District trustees will consider the recommendations Thursday. In addition to layoffs, the proposed cuts include closing the Vista Focus Academy, eliminating some middle-school sports, ending elementary school busing, scaling back maintenance at district campuses and axing a highly touted reading intervention program.
District officials said earlier this month that they had planned to spend $203 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year, nearly 4 percent less than the $211 million they planned to spend this fiscal year. However, district revenues are expected to plunge to $187 million in 2009-10, compared to $194 million in the current fiscal year.
Districts throughout the state are in a similar predicament, struggling to find ways to deal with an expected drop in state funding amid California's deepening budget crisis.
Other than layoffs, Vista Unified could reap significant savings by eliminating Lindamood-Bell Reading Processes, at $3.5 million a year; reducing maintenance work, at $2 million a year; and stopping nearly all busing, at $1.1 million a year.
The district's Budget Advisory Committee ---- made up of parents, employees and community members ---- compiled the list of recommended cuts over the last couple of months.
Trustee Elizabeth Jaka said she considers the list a worst-case scenario.
"I have a problem with all of (the cuts), but some of those are getting right down into the classroom," she said. "I don't know how our schools are going to function."
Over the last couple of years, the district has used the Lindamood-Bell program to help teach struggling students to read at several of its schools. Parent-teacher groups recommended giving the program the ax last year, but the school board voted to keep it. This time around, the makeup of the board has changed, with two of the program's staunchest supporters gone.
Some parents and teachers have complained that the program costs too much and doesn't help enough students. However, proponents say it's worth the price because it's teaching some of the district's most at-risk students to read.
Among the Vista Unified employees who will be notified they may not be rehired are 197 teachers, four assistant principals and three district administrators. More than 100 nonteaching employees also will probably receive layoff notices next month, board President Carol Herrera said.
By increasing class sizes in first, second and third grade from 20 students to 32, the district would be able to lay off 120 teachers.
No decision on class sizes will be made at Thursday's meeting, which is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m at Foothill Oak Elementary School, 1370 Oak Drive in Vista.
Also in jeopardy are 77 positions that provide counseling, art education, and extra help for students learning to speak English and those from low-income families.
Though final layoff notices won't come until May, the district must formally let employees who are at risk know next month that they may not have a job next year. Receiving such a notice doesn't necessarily mean a teacher will get laid off, though jobs are secure for those who don't get one.
"There's no question that some of those people will be brought back," Herrera said. "Every year we pink slip teachers and every year we bring some of them back."
The district now employs roughly 2,500 people to serve about 23,000 students in Vista and eastern Oceanside.
Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.
return to www.vistata.org