Dear Community Member,
At Monday night’s Board meeting, the TUSD Board of Education, with tremendous frustration, approved $27.6 million in reductions and one-time balance transfers over the next two budgetary years. Grappling with an economic crisis that has crippled school districts all over California, the TUSD Board has characterized these cuts as draconian. The Board was forced to cut another 185 positions, on top of the 258 that have already been cut over the past two years. The 185 positions being cut in this round include, 121 K-12 teachers, four high school counselors, one adult education teacher, nineteen full-time para educators, one elementary assistant principal, 0.4 site clerical staff, and 38.6 central administration personnel. Of the 38.6 central administration staff, six are administrators, 1.6 are supervisory/confidential staff, one program specialist, nine classified clerical positions, six maintenance/operations staff, ten classified custodians, and five classified campus security personnel. In addition to personnel cuts, TUSD has made significant reductions in programs and services that are essential to manage a successful school district. In the past two years the District was forced to cut summer school, except for students who needed assistance with the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). The District also significantly reduced funding for all Tier 3 programs, while some were completely eliminated. Additionally, some of the impacted programs include Deferred Maintenance, GATE, Instructional Materials, and the Arts and Music Block Grant program. In this round of reductions, TUSD will be forced to reduce coaching stipends, will allow juniors and seniors to take fewer classes if they are on track for graduation, is offering early retirement, and eliminating our Child Welfare and Attendance department. Furthermore, District administrators are still in union negotiations regarding five mandatory furlough days in each of the next two budgetary years for ALL employees.
The negative impacts of these reductions and cuts will be adversely felt by our 25,000 students in their crowded classrooms and by the drastically fewer programs available. Many of the services and resources our parents and employees have come to expect from our District will no longer be available. In this economic crisis everyone loses, especially our students.
As I have said many times, it is no longer acceptable for our state representatives to say they are ‘friends of education’ if they are not willing to fight to preserve our funding in Sacramento. It is no longer acceptable for the Governor to claim he is ‘protecting’ education when his budget proposals are unrealistic and impractical. It is no longer acceptable for the Governor and state legislators to play their political games while our students and employees suffer.
Parents, teachers, employees, and our community must continue to make phone calls, write letters, and send emails to our representatives in Sacramento reminding them of their responsibility to protect the future of our students. We must demand that they represent our interests and present viable budget solutions.
I am impressed with the dedication and tenacity of our students, parents, educators, employee groups, and community members and leaders, who came out on March 4th and collectively took a stand to protect education funding. I will continue to provide budget updates to our stakeholders as we move forward in the budget process.
Dr. George Mannon,
Superintendent of Schools
Dr. George Mannon, TUSD Superintendent
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