The Carlsbad school board reluctantly approved $5.6 million in budget cuts last night – a reflection of 100 teacher layoffs already made but also of other painful cuts across the district.
The $5.6 million in reductions for 2008-09 came with a caveat. The Carlsbad Unified School District board, as recommended by administrators, directed the district to postpone several other layoffs embedded in those cuts.
They include maintenance, grounds and custodial workers, an athletic trainer at Carlsbad High, and a computer technician. Rather than lay off those people outright, school officials hope to save at least some of their jobs once they learn more about the state budget.
Earlier this spring, Carlsbad Unified had projected that it would have to cut about $4.5 million from its 2008-09 budget – the consequence of state budget cuts to education.
But yesterday, hours after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger detailed his May revision to his state budget proposal, Carlsbad administrators said that they had little optimism that things would improve – and that in the long term the state is doing nothing to avoid a persistent budget crisis in future years.
“No one is looking to solve the major problems to solve that structural deficit,” Superintendent John Roach said. “I wouldn't get your hopes up.”
The cuts approved last night are wide-ranging. They incorporate the layoffs already approved last week, which are expected to raise average class sizes at Carlsbad High from 32 to 36 students; and raise class sizes in third grade above 20 students.
Other cuts include:
11.5 special-education teacher-aide positions
Three teaching positions at Carlsbad Village Academy
Reducing the cost of teacher stipends by two-thirds
2.2 librarian positions
4.6 counselor positions
Reducing library technician hours by 50 percent
Roach said he was somewhat encouraged by Schwarzenegger's revised budget proposal, in part because it would not suspend Proposition 98, the state legislation that guarantees a minimum amount of funding for public schools.
“I'm feeling just a little bit better about our organization's ability to weather the storm,” he said. “I don't feel any better, however, about the 100 people we've already laid off.”
Even after Carlsbad Unified adopts its budget for 2008-09, at the end of June, Roach said school officials will continue to face uncertainties over how much money it will have.
In other action last night, the school board reviewed schematic plans for the district's second high school, planned at College Avenue and Cannon Road.
The $95.5 million campus, scheduled to open in August 2011, will be bisected by a wide promenade. Many of its buildings will be designed to encourage natural ventilation and have other environmentally friendly features.
