The Hollister School District staff sent out pink slips for 80
teachers and 15 administrators last week while statewide as many as
22,000 school employees received the notice that they may not have
a job next year.
The Hollister School District staff sent out pink slips for 80 teachers and 15 administrators last week while statewide as many as 22,000 school employees received the notice that they may not have a job next year.
“All the districts in the state have until May 15 to come up with the real number of teacher and administrators,” said Ron Crates, the superintendent of the Hollister School District. “We don’t know what the budget will be.”
Crates said the budget situation for the last few years has been direr than any he’s experiences as an administrator.
“I’ve never seen it this bad,” he said. “There have been cyclical issues, in the early ’90s in Redwood City and in the ’80s, but I’ve never as bas as this.”
In addition to the cuts mandated by the state, the Hollister School District has been dealing with declining enrollment.
“We have declining enrollment, less kids and a huge budget crisis,” Crates said. “I am trying to mitigate against that number.”
While the local district is waiting for the May revision of the state budget, Crates is looking at many options to fill the anticipated $6.5 million deficit. He formed a superintendent’s budget committee last week, which includes a mix of administrators, teachers, classified staff, parents and community members, that will meet three times before presenting recommendations at the end of April.
The committee will be looking at what Crates referred to as non-negotiable items. He said 85 percent of the budget is negotiable, which includes salaries and compensation.
“The other thing we are concerned about is that Hollister School District is the largest employee in the county,” Crates said. “We are doing everything we can to save jobs, for the county sales tax and to help the county. The last thing we want to do when we have 22 percent unemployment is add to that.”
One option the district will be exploring is offering an early retirement plan for teachers that Crates said could save the jobs of 25-30 teachers.
See the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
