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The Governor's Budget Cuts — Impact
on San Diego Unified School District
San Diego Unified School District has a strong record of student achievement. In 2007, it was the only urban school district in California to achieve all of its Adequate Yearly Progress targets under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). This year, the district is striving to achieve even higher targets under NCLB.
The Governor's proposed budget would require San Diego Unified to slash almost $80 million from its budget. California's schools are already among the lowest funded in the nation. The district believes that the governor's proposal to suspend Proposition 98 would cripple its efforts to provide all students with a quality education and reduce the achievement gap.
Recently, the budget crisis forced San Diego Unified to issue notices of potential layoff to 903 teachers — a full 10 percent of the certificated staff in the district. Hundreds of elementary school teachers are included in these proposed reductions in staffing. A disproportionate number of impacted teachers are in their first three years of teaching.
Jackson Elementary School is in the heart of a high-poverty area in San Diego. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell has visited this school twice in the past year to acknowledge its success in improving student achievement and narrowing the achievement gap. However, because of the state's budget crisis, 24 of the 26 teachers who made this school successful have received layoff notices. The very teachers who chose to stay at this challenging school rather than transfer to an easier assignment are now potentially being dismissed.
Jackson Elementary School Principal Eileen Moreno said, "I am absolutely devastated. Every one of these teachers began four and five years ago at this school so there is no question about who made the difference in a community where historically this just doesn't happen. Trying to reconcile their achievements with what might happen in the next few months is impossible. Is there anything that can be done to protect this community from such a potentially devastating blow?"
In addition to potential teacher layoffs, the San Diego Unified School District is considering the following options to achieve the Governor's $80 million in reductions to the district:
- Cutting programs and implementing school-level cuts, including:
- Placing principals in charge of two sites,
- Dramatically reducing the number of vice principals,
- Eliminating class-size reduction at third grade,
- Increasing class sizes in grades four through twelve,
- Increasing Gifted and Talented Program (GATE) classroom sizes,
- Reducing the number of teachers allocated to middle and high schools,
- Reducing the number of librarians and school nurses,
- Reducing the number of counselors at the elementary, middle, and high school levels,
- Cutting the number of special education teachers, counselors, and paraprofessionals.
- Cutting the district's central office by 20 percent. Among the hundreds of personnel impacted by these proposed cuts are managers, custodians, and landscapers. Under these proposals, the cleaning and landscaping of schools would occur on a reduced basis.
- In total, more than 1,500 certificated and 1,000 classified positions in San Diego Unified School District would be impacted by the Governor's budget.
These proposed cuts are clearly unsustainable. They would result in the irrevocable loss of talented administrators, teachers, and staff and dramatically impact the quality of educational programs in San Diego Unified schools. The district is strongly opposed to the suspension of Proposition 98 and urges the Governor and the legislature to work together to ensure that funding for public education is protected.
