The Hollister School District received some positive news this
week in regards to the ongoing budget struggle forcing the district
to cut the jobs of 37 teachers to balance the budget this year.
Hollister –The Hollister School District received some positive news this week in regards to the ongoing budget struggle forcing the district to cut the jobs of 37 teachers to balance the budget this year.
As of March, truancy rates at the 6,000 student school district had dropped to 18 percent – down from 39 percent in the 2003-04 school year.
Though the truancy reduction will add much-needed revenue to the district’s budget, it won’t save the jobs of 37 teachers the district mailed lay-off notices to on Wednesday. The district also announced class sizes in the Hollister School District will increase to 35 students per classroom. The second increase in class sizes in the last two years. The district will release another budget forecast today.
The district receives about $26 per student for each day they are in class. The reduction in truancy this year saved the school district approximately $100,000 in funds received from the state and federal government based on attendance, according to Interim Chief Business Officer Michael R. Slater.
The decrease in truancy is largely attributed to the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office’s Truancy Abatement Program which holds parents accountable for ensuring their children attend class. Because attendance is required by state law, the DA can press charges against the parents of truant children.
Parents of habitually absent students, “Don’t think there are consequences to ignoring the compulsory education law,” said District Attorney John Sarsfield. “When there are real consequences for not meeting that obligation, it’s easier for parents to get their kids up and say, ‘You need to get to school or I’ll get in trouble.'”
In November, 2004, a woman whose children attend an elementary school in the Hollister School District pleaded no contest to two charges of violating the education code earlier this month, and was required by a judge to obey all laws and send her children to school every day, Sarsfield said. He would not name the woman to protect the identity of the children.
“We would rather work with them cooperatively than use the big stick approach,” he said.
Since the new truancy program started at the HSD last year, about 15 families have gone through mediation with the district. Charges were eventually filed against the parents in two of the cases.
Truancy is defined as any student who has three or more unexcused absences during the school year, according to Connie Childers, the at-risk advocate for HSD. Unexcused absences are anything not related to health or family emergencies.
The decrease in truancy rates is welcomed news for the district, which has been hit hard over the past few years by declining enrollments and the loss of state funds, creating a $2 million budget deficit that forced district officials to notify teachers and administrators in February that they may be laid off in May.
Losing teachers means that class sizes will increase from an average of 32 students per class this year to about 35 students per class for 2005-06, HSD President Margie Barrios said.
On Tuesday, the district announced that 37 teachers would be laid off, and notices on whether teachers and administrators would keep or lose their jobs were mailed yesterday, according to Bill Jordan, HSD Director of Personnel.
“I’m sad,” said Frances Sneddon, who has taught first grade at Calaveras School for two years.
Sneddon was among the more than 90 teachers who were told that they might be laid off. She still doesn’t know yet if she will have a job next year.
“I didn’t see this political side to it,” she said. “When people work hard and get the education and work with children, then all this happens, it’s very discouraging and disheartening.”
Luke Roney covers education and agriculture for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at
lr****@fr***********.com
