Saturday, June 28, 2008

Classified workers taking 'the brunt'; board says

By MERRILL BALASSONE
mbalassone@modbee.com

last updated: April 22, 2008 06:45:55 AM

Modesto City Schools board members voted unanimously Monday night to slash $2.5 million from next year's budget by cutting positions or reducing work hours for about 200 district support staff members.

More than 230 workers, parents and community members at the meeting jockeyed for blue passes that assured them a seat in the 165-person boardroom. Others pressed posters against open windows and spilled across the street into Pearson Elementary School's cafeteria, where a live feed of the meeting was broadcast.

Many of the layoffs up for a vote were positions approved to be cut as part of an $11.6 million budget reduction in February, but the school board must pass a resolution giving classified workers at least 45 days' notice that they will be laid off.

"I don't think they've heard us. Classified employees have always taken the brunt of budget reductions," said Linda Norman, a labor relations representative for the California School Employees Association.

Superintendent Arturo Flores said deciding which programs and jobs to cut from the $300 million budget has been a "gut-wrenching job" for his staff.

"I can sense in their faces that this is the toughest job they have to do," Flores said. "Fewer people are going to have to do more work."

About 260 full- and part-time classified positions were cut or face a reduction in work hours, including classroom aides, bookroom clerks and library assistants. Sixty-one of those 260 positions are vacant, said Chris Flesuras, associate superintendent of human resources. People who have been laid off but have experience in a different district job can be "bumped" to another position.

Flesuras said about 47 classified employees may not have a job in the district next year.

Aaron Castro, the CSEA's Modesto chapter president, said he was disappointed by the outcome but will meet with district officials today to discuss ways to save jobs and still balance the budget.

"This is outrageous," Castro said. "How are these cuts fair and equitable to our classified staff?"

Modesto City Schools did not lay off any permanent or probationary classroom teachers this year. More than 70 teachers will retire, Flesuras said.

The cuts come in response to Gov. Schwarzenegger's January proposal to slash $4.8 billion in kindergarten through 12th-grade education funding, as well as a loss in student enrollment, district officials said.

Four Modesto elementary schools will switch from a multiple-track to a single-track year-round schedule next year, which means workers won't be needed on campus for as many days during the school year.

Classroom aides in Modesto City Schools' federal and state preschool classrooms may be most affected by this round of layoffs, Castro said. Of the roughly 100 aide positions, 17 were eliminated.

"We hear about ... No Child Left Behind, but that's exactly what we're doing," said preschool psychologist Juanita Fimbrez. "These are the (people) getting our kids ready to learn."

Board members said they were frustrated by the state budget picture and had exhausted all other options.

"We've cut everything else," said board member Cindy Marks. "We're running on a bare minimum."

Board member Steve Collins told audience members to put the blame on Sacramento lawmakers.

"We are just sadly in charge of distributing the grief," he said.

The board also voted to give district officials the authority to send pink slips to temporary employees in the district's categorical programs, where money is doled out for specific issues such as counseling at-risk students and vocational education. Schwarzenegger proposed a 6.5 percent cut in categorical funding next year.

Of the $700,000 in eliminated positions proposed for the categorical programs, about $400,000 would come from losing four of the five nursing positions in the child development program. Those nurses could take other jobs in the district and would be replaced with services from the Stanislaus County Office of Education, Flesuras said. Others who might get layoff notices are high school counselors, workers in a pregnant teen program and vocational education staff members.

A third resolution passed unanimously to issue layoff notices to six classified managers, including a public information officer and after-school site coordinators, whose salaries were cut from the 2008-09 budget in February.

Evert Tanis, a district project designer for 15 years, lost his job Monday night. He asked why the district gave 3.5 percent raises this year, only to cut jobs months later.

"Giving back the raise would balance the budget," Tanis said. "That would be the end of the story, the grief, for now," he said. "It's just really a shame that it's come to this."

Bee staff writer Merrill Balassone can be reached at mbalassone@modbee.com or 578-2337.

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