The assistant superintendent says some jobs can be saved if the $198-per-parcel tax, now known as Measure A, is approved in May. But he says it is not possible to avoid all layoffs.
By Jonathan Friedman / Special to The Malibu Times
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District on Thursday announced the layoff of 61 employees, which in effect eliminates the district’s entire elementary school music program. However, the number of teachers, counselors and nurses dismissed was reduced from 92 to 61, after the announcement of 23 retirements and the teachers’ union’s approval of an agreement for employees to take five unpaid furlough days this year and next year.
Superintendent Tim Cuneo announced the modified number at last Thursday’s Board of Education meeting. No board vote was required because the members had already given the go ahead for 92 layoffs at last month’s meeting. The layoffs are part of a cost-cutting effort by the district, which is projecting a deficit as high as $14 million next fiscal year. If voters approve a parcel tax funding measure in May that is expected to generate $5.7 million, some of the jobs can be saved.
State law requires the employees to receive notification of their school year-end termination by March 15. Classified employees, which include maintenance workers and other support staff, can be notified later in the year about layoffs. District officials say cutting some of those positions is on the table. Several programs, including elementary school libraries, are also being considered for elimination.
Also on Thursday, the board voted to approve an item that demoted four administrators to teaching positions as another cost-cutting measure. Several board members pleaded with the public to support the $198-per-parcel tax proposal, now known as Measure A, so the amount of layoffs could be further reduced.
“If you ever thought that education was important, if that thought has ever crossed your mind, this is the time to put that thought into action by supporting the measure,” board member Jose Escarce said.
Harry Keiley, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Classroom Teachers Association, said, “The association is opposed to all of these [layoffs], to state the obvious.” He also encouraged people to support Measure A.
Although he said he opposes the layoffs, Keiley said after the board meeting that he understood the district was trying to give itself the “most flexibility.” When it votes on the budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year on June 18, the number of layoffs can be reduced, but it cannot be increased.
Mike Matthews, assistant superintendent for human resources, told the Malibu City Council at a meeting on Monday, where it voted unanimously to support Measure A, that jobs would be saved through the approval of the measure. However, he said it was not possible to have no layoffs.
“We will have cuts,” Matthews said. “We have to. That’s the situation we’re in right now.”
When the board approved the 92 layoffs, the list included particulars on what kinds of jobs were being proposed for elimination. The list of 61 did not include those details. It simply contained serial numbers representing specific employees. However, it has been verified that the action eliminated the entire elementary school music program. As they did at the previous meeting, several music education advocates told the board on Thursday this would be devastating to the district, which is known in many circles throughout the world. Board member Ben Allen sympathized with them.
“I am deeply troubled about the idea of eliminating elementary music,” Allen said. “I think it’s a bad idea. I don’t want to see it happen.”
The major factor in the SMMUSD’s sour financial situation is that the state government will be giving fewer dollars to education than it has previously given. The district this week received bad news that its chance of receiving more federal money had dimmed. California was not among the 15 states selected to get a share of the money from President Obama’s Race to the Top program. Cuneo said California could apply to the program again in June.