GUHSD may consider furloughs
and salary rollbacks over layoffs

By Lori Bledsoe
The Alpine Sun

     EL CAJON — The Grossmont Union High School District’s financial belt is getting even tighter as the squeeze of the economy is forcing some very tough decisions. Proactive procedures on the part of the Superintendent and the board of trustees, is seeing the district through the hardest economic times in this past decade.
     The decision to do everything possible, not to cut positions have left the district with unpopular alternatives, but in the light of unemployment during these dry economic times, are practical.
     On Jan. 28, the GUHSD board convened for a budget workshop in a special meeting that addressed not only the district’s dismal budget, but also the State’s as well. Governor Schwarzenegger handed down his much-awaited budget proposal on Jan. 13, which happily did not propose any mid-year educational cuts. Nor did it propose any new financial deferrals.
     Superintendent Collins addressed the board saying things are getting more difficult, and the questions of salary rollbacks and furlough days as well as class increases are now possible options. In the past these directions were avoided, but as the Superintendent related to the board, these directions are a more palatable solution than cutting jobs.
     In light of this budget, Superintendent Collins is foreseeing that the current district surplus will be fully consumed in meeting this crisis and it will not be sufficient to solve it. He said it will be gone by the next fiscal year.
     Over the past years, when budget issues have become dire, sufficient sums have been produced to bale out the district, however, with this new crisis, there is no magic bullet. He said, “We can not put tomorrow off.”
     “There is a great temptation to say, ‘let’s use every dollar this year to solve this year’s problem and let’s hope the economy improves,” he said. Unfortunately, districts that have used that strategy have been extraordinarily unsuccessful, resulting in even larger cuts in ensuing years.
     Collins also issued his own recommendations to the board regarding new directions that the district can and should take to manage the budget.
     “We have an obligation to provide each student with a quality instructional program,” he said. He also improvised that in the most difficult times and under the greatest duress, the families in East County expect that our school doors are going to remain open and that the district will do their very best to provide the very best instruction to our students.
     Collins’ recommendations were based on keeping the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible, keeping in mind that a teacher in a classroom of 38 students was at the utmost importance to the district. His list included:
     Instituting a hard freeze on all certificated and classified vacancies except for classroom teachers. This will maintain the teaching staff at its current levels.
     A reduction of 25 percent in office expenditures.
     A 5 percent reduction in salary to the superintendent in addition to any other reductions instituted for the staff in the 2010 school year.
     A reduction in all professional development costs except for the current district focus on literacy.
     An end to instructional consulting contracts, except for the furthering of the literacy initiative.
     Finally, terminating the class size reduction in 9th grade.
     “As difficult as a salary rollback or a furlough day may be, the tragedy of laying off personnel, of someone losing their job, in this economy in particular is devastating,” Collins said.
     Scott Patterson then addressed the board, supporting what Superintendent Collins had introduced. He reviewed what the board had not known earlier, in that they were completely in the dark regarding new budget cuts. Now, with the governor’s proposals, and he emphasized, ‘proposal’, there are alternatives in dealing with the budget deficit.
     The state has proposed a negative COLA, which would indicate that the state feels that cost of living has gone down this year. They are planning to further reduce revenue limits without increasing the deficit, and they are targeting school district central administration for saving options.
     The State wants to eliminate the March 15 date for issuing Certificated layoff notices, allowing the district to take action 60 days after the state budget is adopted, to issue notices. Also, the state wants to eliminate teacher’s guaranteed right to substitute at a pro-rata pay.
     Finally, the state wants to provide that school districts have the flexibility to layoff, assign, re-assign, transfer, and re-hire teacher’s based on skill and subject matter rather than seniority.
     In closing statements, Collins said again, that the district is not planning to issue any layoff notices. He said, “In the end, we are trying to protect jobs.”

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