Lately, we’ve been hearing about teachers all over Monterey County receiving “pink slips” informing them they will not be rehired the following school year due to the state’s budget woes. People even worn pink on Friday, March 13th to support educators who are trying to redeem their positions.
The California state budget for education will face a cut of more than $11.5 billion, and the Salinas Union High School District will have reductions of more than $10 million next year. This has been a major concern for many, especially those who received layoff notices in March, including 42 adult school teachers, 12 ROP teachers, and 10 counselors. Protests (“Pink Friday”) and board meetings were held to support educators, and to convince officials they were making a mistake.
Not long after, the notices for the counselors were revoked. Superintendent Roger Anton says they were withdrawn because those employees are needed for the next school year. He also said that most of the reductions being made were affecting supplemental counseling, which provides extra counselors to middle and high schools. The board is still evaluating the ROP and Adult School cuts and may rescind those as well, if the budget picture brightens.
While some district employees are being drastically affected, what about teachers at Alisal? “Not here,” said Principal Dan Burns.
According to Burns, the district has continued to succeed throughout crises with the help of Performance Based Budgeting, a method which requires planning strategies to deal with expenses. Thanks to this process, no employees in general will be let go here at Alisal. He did add that the Health and Engineering Academy, although they will still be up and running, will receive a 20% cut that thankfully will not affect students drastically.
Senator Abel Maldonado, who represents the Central Coast, says that these layoffs are issues that will have a strong impact on “an entire generation of children” because arts and music programs will be the first to go.
“The government needs to keep education furthest from cuts,” stated Burns. He also went on to say that student support will continue to be provided, as well as “lifelong learning opportunities,” even during times like these when it seems like the state government has put education on the back burner.
Burns said that some teachers will leave, but not due to receiving a pink slip. He said some teachers are temporary and only have a year contract because they don’t have their credential; some are probationary-they have their credential and are being evaluated to determine whether or not they’ll be granted tenure; and some decide to leave for their own reasons, such as high housing costs. “It varies from year to year,” Burns said. “We usually have two to three teachers a year not return.” He went on to say there’s typically a turnover of 20 staff members every year.
Although this matter may be reminiscent to that of the weakening libraries in 2004, the only thing they have in common is a money shortage. The closing of public libraries was a city based issue, while these cutbacks are statewide.