Board members for the Cabrillo Unified School District approved the new list of tentative cuts during a public meeting last week as the strongest warning shot yet to let the public know the impact local schools would face without new revenues.
The district would lose as many as 35 teachers and other employees without new revenues. That number would be reduced to about six layoffs if two-thirds of district voters approved the $150-per-parcel tax.
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“We have to pass a parcel tax. Period,” said Board President Dwight Wilson. “In the last parcel taxes no one saw the damage that was done. We did such a good job hiding all that damage and the community felt that, gee, everything must be fine.”
Things would not be fine this time around, school board members argued. If a parcel tax did not pass, district cuts would eliminate all school counselors, the employees responsible for giving students academic and emotional guidance for a savings of about $420,000.
Layoffs would also be made to the school custodians, groundskeepers, office clerks and certified librarian, leading schools to further share employees across the district. The school district would cut its class-size reduction program, which has kept elementary school classes at a minimal size. And the new cuts would end all athletic stipends for coaches at Cunha Intermediate and Half Moon Bay High schools.
Even if the parcel tax passed, the district would still need to make about $1 million in cuts, which would include reductions to special services, transportation and office staff. The district would also use $545,000 in federal stimulus funding to make up the budget deficit.
The reductions spared most teachers, literacy coaches and employees tasked with school security. Previous suggestions, such as closing Kings Mountain Elementary School and eliminating library technicians, were not included in the new list of potential cuts.
But many teachers questioned how they could educate with less.
“We know we’re going to feel these cuts,” said James Barnes, a high school history teacher. “Next fall we’ll be in the classrooms, dirty classrooms, classrooms that are crumbling, classrooms that are too full.”
The cuts generated impassioned reaction from district teachers, employees and parents, who unanimously criticized the choices, but could offer few alternatives. Board members asked meeting participants devastated by the widespread cuts to channel their reaction to helping pass the June tax measure.
“I hope the same passion will go to help pass the parcel tax,” Wilson said. “I hope people leave here tonight knowing that the parcel tax will be critical to keep these services.”
Board member Jolanda Schreurs was appalled at the wholesale cuts to high school counselors, which she feared would imperil students in the future. She proposed alternate cuts to spare some counseling positions, but that motion was rejected by her peers.
Schreurs excoriated her colleagues on the school board for supporting cuts even though they differed from their own recommendations given last month.
“Effectively, we’re not taking the board position. And you’re now throwing it out to the wind,” she said. “In a worst-case scenario, just what happens if the parcel tax doesn’t pass?”
Schreurs asked Superintendant Rob Gaskill about adjusting certain cuts on the new list, but he argued strongly against it.
“We’ve looked for every dollar,” Gaskill responded. “To look for something different is close to insulting.”
Gaskill indicated that the district still faces several uncertainties that could change the budget situation in June. Most promising, he mentioned, was the possibility of negotiating with faculty or employee unions for cuts to benefits, pay or work days. The district could also get more funding from the state or federal governments, or perhaps a small refund from its investment with the defunct Lehman Brothers financial firm. But those scenarios were unlikely, Gaskill warned.
“Help is probably not coming,” he said.
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