Tehachapi News

School district likely facing more cuts

larger view

The outcome of the May 19 Special Election could determine if the Tehachapi Unified School District will be forced to make more staffing cuts, according to the district’s superintendent, Richard Swanson.

“We’re looking at $1,200 less per student per school year,” Swanson said at the May 12 board meeting. “That means about $6 million less for the district.”

That’s roughly the same figure as the district’s annual salary costs for certificated and classified employees.

According to Chief Administrator of Business Services Julie Auvil, that estimated $6 million deficit would be absorbed at a rate of approximately $2.8 million for each school year until 2011/2012 — or it could continue to grow until the economy recovers.

Education funding from Proposition 98 is over-appropriated by $3.6 billion, she said.

“It all depends on the election,” Auvil said. “My best guess is that the state is going to cut us.”

Auvil said the cuts to education are unprecedented in California’s history.

According to California Education Code, employees must be notified by March 15 that they may not have a job to return to the next school year. The district has already cut 17.34 full time equivalent positions for the 2009/2010 school year.

Final notice for two of the district’s teachers has been extended for a formal hearing scheduled for next week.

“In reality, the final list is determined by decisions of the hearing judge,” Swanson told the Tehachapi News in March. “It is in flux until the hearing.”

A second window exists that would allow the district to notice employees in August, “But it’s never been tested in the courts,” Swanson said.

Federal stimulus money: “We’ll just have to wait and see where we are after May 19,” Swanson said.

Trustee Holly Hart said that if the district has to foot the bill for a recall election, the estimated $100,000 could would effectively eliminate two additional teaching positions. If replacement candidates are not placed on the same ballot with the recall, that figure would double, she said.

“Do we have the money in our reserves to pay for this recall?” Hart asked.

No audible answer was received.

Tehachapi Unified School District was allocated $1.2 million in federal stimulus money, released last week, but education administrators are anxiously waiting to see what the governor does with the state’s education budget in June before they start spending the funds.

"Most of us are anticipating that at best the federal dollars will be an offset to further reductions," Mark Fulmer, assistant superintendent, administration and finance with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools told The Bakersfield Californian last week.

Other school board business

Another lengthy discussion about the board’s role in personnel decisions revealed that the trustees are unsure about which codes or bylaws to follow and when.

“I honestly do not know if I upheld  the letter of the law,” Trustee Judy Walsh admitted after the debate circled around the board member’s non-unified response to questions posed by Mark Taberner at the March 24 meeting.

“There are contradictions in the bylaws and codes,” Walsh said. “Every attorney says something different.”

Trustee Holly Hart reiterated that the board has evaded scheduling a work shop to replace the protocols they threw out nearly two years ago.

“I’ve made at least five requests for board workshops,” Hart said.

Swanson said he’s trying to schedule a session with a professional board mediator to address the confusion.

Taberner and other members of the audience left without answers to the questions they had previously posed about the board’s role in personnel decisions and the district’s “new vision” for Jacobsen Middle School.

“We sat on the edge of our seats hoping for answers,” said Chris Duff,  Jacobsen Middle School’s PTO President. “Please help inform me and everyone that came here. Give us a vision where you all stand.”

In other board business

• Veteran teacher and long-time Tehachapi Association of Teacher’s union member Cherise Powell read a thorough rebuttal to the 10 grounds listed on the notice of intent to recall petitions submitted by the Friends of Recall. The Tehachapi News has asked permission to publish Powell’s rebuttal, and also invites the four trustees to submit their own rebuttals to the petitions.

• A motion to authorize the district staff to request allowance for six additional snow days carried with a 6-0 vote. Trustee Gary Warner was absent.

• A waiver of the CAHSEE Graduation Requirements for two students with disabilities was granted in a 6-0 vote.

Posted May 18, 2009; Volume 110 - No.6, print edition May 20, 2009