27 February 2010
On February 23, the San Francisco Unified School District’s Board of Education voted to notify more than 900 school employees that they could be laid off this year...
The 900 employees include 318 full-time teachers, 139 teacher aides, 109 instructional support staff, 98 principals and assistant principals, 22 counselors, and 10 librarians. The teacher layoffs amount to about 10 percent of the entire staff.
A town hall meeting in San Francisco organized by parents on Thursday drew more than a thousand parents, teachers and residents, overwhelmingly opposed to school cuts. In addition to laying off teachers, the district has also proposed increasing class sizes, reducing bus services and cutting summer school programs.
According to California law, school districts must notify teachers who may be laid off by March 15.
Other workers and staff do not have to be notified in advance, and the number of total layoffs could grow.
While many layoffs were rescinded for workers last year, this was because the city was able to provide the district with $24 million from its "rainy day fund"; next year, city hall will only be providing $6 million.
The massive layoff announcements are intended in part to escalate pressure on teachers to accept contract concessions to "save jobs." Teachers may also be offered $4,300 as an incentive for early retirement. In this way, the district is seeking to shed more experienced and better paid teachers.
The United Educators of San Francisco teachers union has already indicated that it is willing to push concessions through, saying only that it wants district officials to demonstrate that the budget shortfalls require layoffs and further cuts.
Superintendent Carlos Garcia says that some $44 million dollars in cuts will come from labor contracts.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/feb2010/sfte-f27.shtml
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