District looks to reduce $3 million from budget; equates to
approximately 70 teaching positions
Children in the Hollister School District will be in larger classes and they’ll have fewer teachers next year.
With layoffs ahead, class sizes in the junior high and fifth and sixth grades will increase, said Ronna Gilani, president of the district’s teacher’s union.
“Parents (are) not aware of how it’s going to affect the kids,” said Gilani. “Parents (are) not showing up to meetings.”
School officials at Tuesday’s board meeting informed people of the layoffs and what the budget looks like for next school year. Superintendent Ron Crates said the layoffs are coming due to the state budget crisis and lower enrollment numbers.
“Most other schools are going through it, too,” he said.
As of this past Monday, there will be an estimated $3 million cut, equating to about 70 positions lost, according to Gilani.
Tuesday’s meeting dealt with cuts only toward teachers. At this upcoming Tuesday’s meeting, officials are set to present precise numbers and which positions are being cut, Gilani said. No names of people will be given out until M arch 14 after they receive their pink slips. Seniority will determine who’s laid off.
“This will have a horrendous impact on students,” said Gilani.
Jan Grist, a seventh-grade teacher at Maze Middle School, said there are 320 teaching positions and they could be releasing up to 20 percent of that. This will cause a severe loss of service to Maze students, she said. Maze could have around 755 students next year, she said, a drop of almost 180 kids.
Grist said that Gabilan Hills and Calaveras Elementary could be going to K-8 next year. Right now, Gabilan Hills and Calaveras are both K-5 schools.
The district has seen a lower enrollment rate in the last six to seven years, due to the economy and a lower birth rate, according to Crates. “We are expecting 150 less students next year,” he said.
This isn’t the first time the school district has seen a budget cut in recent times. Three years ago, the district had to lay off 80 teachers. Gilani said that budget problem was isolated to the Hollister district and wasn’t statewide. The district later hired most of them back, she said.
“We will lose teachers this time, but (I) don’t think it will be near 70 teachers.”
The district does have the right to protect someone, however. If one position is needed and there are not enough teachers for a specific position, that teacher could be “saved,” she said.
Officials held a meeting late Wednesday to discuss which programs are needed more than others. Crates will take the information from that meeting and on March 11 he’ll inform people of his decisions.
Programs usually to go first are music and art, she said.
San Benito High School Director of Finance and Operations Jim Koenig and Superintendent Stan Rose could not be reached before press time.
By the numbers:
70 layoffs – Estimated number of positions to be cut
80 layoffs – Number of positions cut three years ago
180 students – Expected decrease in enrollment next year
3 million – Number of dollars HSD needs to cut
