Layoffs Loom for SMFC Elementary School Teachers

As of Thursday, the San Mateo-Foster City School District is planning to issue pink slips to as many as 30 full-time teachers in an effort to cope with its budget struggles.

The teachers' jobs are on the chopping block along with the equivalent of nearly 54 other full-time district employees, including non-art and music elective middle school teachers, elementary school teachers, administrators and others.

The district's board of trustees unanimously approved the cuts at the board's regular meeting on Thursday night. The job cuts, along with other budget reduction efforts, could save the district up to $8.5 million next year, according to a district report.

Board chair Mark Hudak apologized for approving the cuts, but said the decision was made out of necessity.

"We are deeply sorry we have to go through this," he said. "We have done everything we can do to keep the cuts away from the classroom, and now we're in a position to have to take these kinds of actions."

Hudak acknowledged that as the board struggles with difficult financial decisions, members recognize that the cuts they are making have profound impacts on the lives of their district employees.

"This process is agonizing and unsettling for everybody," he said. "Yet we are in a position where, if we don't take these actions now, we won't be able to respond and react in a responsible way."

State Politics

Not all the possible cuts will be finalized, board members said, but the district must prepare for a "worst-case scenario" that will go in effect should Gov. Jerry Brown's new budget strategy be shot down by legislators or, ultimately, voters.

Brown's strategy to deal with the state's $24.5 billion budget deficit amounts to $12.5 billion in budget cuts and $12 billion in tax extensions, both of which need to be approved by a "supermajority," or two-thirds, of voters.

Much of Brown's budget revolves around sparing kindergarten through 12th grade school funding. Should his budget be rejected, $12 billion in cuts will be distributed throughout the state, with education likely receiving the brunt of the financial blow.

The state requires school districts to issue pink slips by March 15, and the state Legislature is slated to vote on whether Brown's tax extensions will make it to the ballot for voter approval by March 10.

Staff layoffs are generally finalized by mid-May, as districts attempt to set budgets for the upcoming fiscal year that begins in July.

Hudak pointed to the difficulty of approving cuts before knowing the results of June's tax election.

District Losses

The San Mateo-Foster City School District is facing losing $8.05 million from its unallocated budget balance next year, and looks to be in the red by $8.51 million in the 2012-13 fiscal year.

Should Gov. Brown's budget be rejected by either legislators or voters, the district will lose about $330 in average daily attendance funds per students. That loss equates to nearly $2 billion statewide.

The district is estimating that, should the tax extension be rejected, K-12 education funds could be hit for about 40 percent of the nearly $12.4 billion hole the state will face.

Hudak emphasized the importance of budgeting conservatively, which means planning cuts now with the knowledge that should the tax extension be approved, the cuts can be more easily reversed than vice-versa.