Lacking a tiebreaking vote with just six members present, and
without any furlough days confirmed with the unions, the Morgan
Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees made no other
decisions on further budget reductions Tuesday night.
Lacking a tiebreaking vote with just six members present, and without any furlough days confirmed with the unions, the Morgan Hill Unified School District Board of Trustees made no other decisions on further budget reductions Tuesday night.
The meeting, held again at Britton Middle School’s auditorium, was sparsely attended compared to the last two board meetings held there, with about 50 people in the audience including few parents. Just two people spoke on the budget cuts. Live Oak High School water polo coach Mack Haines addressed the pool closure option and Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers President Donna Ruebusch decried the Times for Tuesday’s story on the school district furlough option.
The Morgan Hill Educational Leaders Association – which is not technically a union, although it does represent principals, assistant principals and other district management – has pledged support of two furlough days via El Toro Elementary School Principal Patrick Buchser’s statements at a previous board meeting. Two furlough days would save the district $260,000 each. At the March 24 meeting, Buchser said, “MHELA and the executive cabinet … are very willing to match up to two days of furlough if SEIU and the Federation” come on board.
Ruebusch says the Federation of Teachers’ ongoing, overdue contract negotiations include a proposal with a furlough. But Pam Torrisi, president of SEIU, which represents custodians, aides and other support staff, has said her members want assurance that the money saved through a furlough will help save jobs or go somewhere useful, and not repay borrowed money from the one-time savings the trustees approved.
Still left to be decided is whether or not to close Live Oak and Ann Sobrato high schools’ pools, and whether or not to increase kindergarten class size from 20 to 30 students.
A motion by Trustee Mike Hickey to approve the recommended cuts, which totaled $690,000 and did not include the pool closures, did not pass after the vote was tied. Trustees Shelle Thomas, Peter Mandel and Bart Fisher cast no votes. Board President Don Moody was absent.
“We still have no flexibility in what we’re doing,” Thomas said, adding that furloughs would provide flexibility. “That’s where the tires meet the road.”
Although Trustee Julia Hover Smoot voted for the approved cuts, she also expressed frustration at the lack of flexibility. She preferred approving the cuts now rather than waiting until the special board meeting April 20, saying that nothing is going to change between Tuesday’s board meeting and April 20’s.
“We’re pretending somehow that we can play pools off class size reduction, that something’s going to change,” she said. “If we are being honest with ourselves and the public, we will adopt these changes now.”
Closing the two pools would save an estimated $100,000, while opting out of the state class size reduction program for kindergarten would save the district $160,000. District office administrative changes, like demoting four executive secretaries to lesser-paid positions, have yet to be decided, too. These changes total $70,000.
Haines said the $100,000 savings from the pool closings was too shaky a number for the board to hang their hats on, and Trustee Shelle Thomas agreed.
The board expects to make the $233,000 in remaining cuts at its special board meeting in time for the deadlines to notify employees.
The budget stalemate won’t stop district administrators from slashing $460,000 from special education. These cuts included canceled contracts that saved $200,000 this year, adding to the fund balance reserve, cutting instructional aides – how many is still being deliberated – and appointing Special Education Director Chris Rizzuto to oversee the summer school special education program. District officials didn’t need a board vote to make those cuts happen, although it is included in the $690,000 package before the board.
Classified employees, which include custodians, clerks and aides, will be notified of layoffs starting April 22. The eight teachers who received layoff notices will receive a final notice May 14. However, these teachers will be offered temporary positions, as contracts with temporary teachers will not be renewed if any teacher staffing changes, according to district officials.
