Hollister Unified School District faces a $800,000 budget
deficit and will have no choice but make cuts either this school
year or next, according to a grim assessment by the district’s
finance director.
Hollister – Hollister Unified School District faces a $800,000 budget deficit and will have no choice but make cuts either this school year or next, according to a grim assessment by the district’s finance director.
The board of trustees held a special study session on Tuesday night to discuss its options in the looming budget crisis and concluded the cuts were inevitable.
It is still unknown where the cuts will come from, but it appears that teacher salaries could be one of the areas, said teachers who attended the meeting.
“Everything is on the table,” said Steve Kain, lead negotiator for HESTA, Hollister Elementary School Teachers’ Association. “You never know where it’ll (the cuts) come from.”
Another idea that was discussed was the possible unification with San Benito High School District, a move that could potentially save money, but has not been studied, said Dean Bubar, director of business operations.
The deficit is a result of increased costs including salary increases for management and the creation of new administrative positions, which were hotly protested by the teachers. Other sources of
unanticipated
expenditure are special education and additional aides in kindergarten, where student numbers have ballooned to over 30 in an attempt to cut costs. Medical benefits and teacher pay increases were also blamed for the deficit.
Among possible positions that could be cut to save the district money are classified employees like librarians and computer lab personnel – positions that teachers deem vital to their students’ education. They say eliminating these positions would impair students’ learning and lower academic performance.
“If you don’t have someone to help the students out, it would be difficult to run a computer lab,” said Kain.
Dee Brown, a board trustee, said she would not support any cuts to teaching personnel, but was also frustrated by the infighting between the administration and teachers.
“I don’t think there is anyone that is anti-anything for our children,” said Brown, who was formerly president of the board. “We are just faced with very hard choices.”
The board was expected to vote on the cuts during the meeting, but the action was postponed until the end of January. The board also took questions from the audience and promised to have answers at the next meeting.
Some teachers were concerned with what they called a problem with follow through, saying the district promised to not make any new hires and then turned around and hired several new people for administrative positions.
“The last time we met, we agreed on a freeze on hires,” said Jose Anaya, a teacher at Calaveras School. “Are we going to have to go through this every six months?”
The district faces a smaller deficit – about $360,000 – next school year, although the number is just an estimate, said Bubar.
Karina Ioffee covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at (831)637-5566 ext. 335 or ki*****@fr***********.com
