Layoffs are now
”
a given
”
in the Hollister School District following a state budget
approval that includes $8.4 billion in cuts to education,
Superintendent Ron Crates told the Free Lance. The long-awaited
budget approval last week came with a bitter pill for local
agencies that rely heavily on state funding such as the Hollister
School District, San Benito High School District and San Benito
County.
HOLLISTER
Layoffs are now “a given” in the Hollister School District following a state budget approval that includes $8.4 billion in cuts to education, Superintendent Ron Crates told the Free Lance.
The long-awaited budget approval last week came with a bitter pill for local agencies that rely heavily on state funding such as the Hollister School District, San Benito High School District and San Benito County.
Crates was the least optimistic about preventing layoffs among local leaders with those agencies as state leaders attempt to close a $42 billion deficit through a range of tax increases and program cuts. He said the staff cuts are imminent but a precise number of layoffs will not be clear until trustees figure out how much of the state deficit might be washed out by the federal stimulus.
San Benito High School District’s superintendent said trustees will “definitely have to look at reducing positions” but that officials would try to “steer clear” of laying off people. The county’s head administrator, meanwhile, said the budget news was “actually more positive” than government leaders had expected and she noted how Williamson Act funding for agricultural land had been included.
At the outset, it looks as though the most severe impact likely will come at the county’s biggest school district and largest employer.
Crates said school officials will examine the potential dollars headed to San Benito County from the federal stimulus package before finding a conclusive deficit amount and potential layoff figure.
“There’s going to be a layoff – that’s a given,” he said. “I don’t know how many people. My goal now is to save as many jobs as possible.”
HSD officials are “against the wall” because there is a March 15 deadline to inform teachers if the district intends to lay them off next school year, Crates said. He also noted how there were 42 layoffs on the table last year before district officials found ways to significantly trim the number.
Trustees with San Benito High School will try to prevent layoffs altogether, which Superintendent Stan Rose attributed to the district’s financial health. He said the district would have to use funds from its general fund reserve, which equates to about 15 percent of the annual budget, to make up the difference.
“We have to be aware of the fact that we might need some of those reserves to cover cash-flow issues if it becomes worse,” Rose said.
He went on: “We’re very lucky that we’re going into this as healthy as we are.”
County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson projected that supervisors would not need to consider layoffs. She also said the county “probably” won’t have to dip into reserves, aside from for “cash-flow purposes” the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends in June.
Thompson noted that county officials “still have major issues with our reducing property tax levels.” She also pointed out how interest revenue has declined and said the budget “isn’t out of the woods yet.”
“But at least we know what the state’s going to do,” she said.
