12 Teachers to Lose Jobs Next Year, San Bruno Park School District Says

A combination of anticipated school funding shortages has led the San Bruno Park School District to lay off 12 teachers next school year.

The school board unanimously approved the decision at Wednesday’s meeting, which means the district will be sending out preliminary layoff notices to those teachers soon.

“This is a sad state of affairs for all education,” trustee Jim Prescott said before casting his vote.

The district has until May 15 to make a final decision about which teachers will receive pink slips for next year—a decision that will be based on seniority. But the rollercoaster ride of teacher layoffs has practically already begun, with the conductor being the embattled state budget that is facing a projected $25.4 billion deficit for the 2011 fiscal year—the main factor that led to the school district’s decision.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s is to ask the voters to pass a five-year extension of three taxes currently set to expire in a special June election.

It is still not certain if that proposal will even make it to the ballot. And, if it doesn’t make it on the ballot or if the tax extensions don’t pass, the district is expecting a decline of $340 to $350 per student next year from the state, the primary funding source for public schools in California.

Other factors leading to the layoffs are declining enrollment, a number of teachers being out on leave and class size, said Superintendent Dr. David Hutt.

“In looking at the number of students in the district and the number of the students coming in,” Hutt said at the meeting, “there is a need to readjust the total number of teachers throughout the district.”

Although the decision passed unanimously, some school board members said they didn’t agree with firing teachers.

“Our primary purpose is to help children learn, and this is no way to run a business—to have to every year send out notices telling people that we may not be able to fund your job,” Prescott said. “We should all just be standing up and screaming and demanding that something should be done.”

Last year, the district sent layoff notices to 26 teachers because of a lack of funding, but many were hired back over the summer.

In other action, the school board agreed to put a on the ballot if the June special election is called but delayed a vote on putting a $96-per-parcel tax before the voters.

The board will make a decision on the parcel tax at a special meeting at 6pm Tuesday at Crestmoor Elementary School.