Credit: Ali Tadayon/Edsource
Credit: Ali Tadayon/EdsourceWith the recent settling of contract negotiations with its teachers union, West Contra Costa Unified is expecting to have to slash millions from its budget in coming years to afford raises which include 7% for teachers this year and 7.5% next year.
The district’s school board, at a meeting Wednesday, approved a “fiscal solvency plan” that would cut $19.8 million from the 2024-25 budget by eliminating 131 full-time positions and reducing other spending. Approving the plan was a requirement by the Contra Costa County Office of Education in order for the district to offer the raises in the contract settlement with United Teachers of Richmond, but the cuts and layoffs won’t actually occur until the board approves them when the 2024-25 budget is prepared next year.
The $19.8 million estimate was based on current staffing levels, as well as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s current budget proposal for 2023-24. School employee attrition, changes in the amount of state funding for West Contra Costa Unified and other factors will impact the amount that ultimately needs to be cut, said Robert McEntire, the district’s Associate Superintendent of Business Services.
“A lot is going to happen between now and when we actually operationalize this,” McEntire said at the school board meeting. “We will be taking steps every day to try to right-size our budget so that we don’t have to do this, because the goal is never to bring a reduction of (work) force back.”
West Contra Costa Unified had already made drastic cuts in its budget in recent years. The district cut around $30 million from its 2020-21 budget under the previous superintendent to address an ongoing deficit. About $22 million of that came from eliminating positions.
School board member Leslie Reckler warned that despite the potential for more state funding and fewer expenses by 2024, it’s still likely that cuts will need to be made.
“Reductions may be needed, and people need to rally and realize that,” she said.
The school board also ratified the contract agreement on Wednesday between West Contra Costa Unified and the United Teachers of Richmond. The contract gives the union a 7% raise this year, and 7.5% the next year. Salary negotiations will reopen the year after that.
By settling the contract when they did, the district avoided a potential teacher strike.
Board member Jamela Smith-Folds said that without the raises to teachers, the district would have continued to struggle to attract them for vacant positions. Smith-Folds also said the board should only look at layoffs as a last resort, and work with the district’s community to find the least disruptive ways to trim the budget.
“We can make deep cuts in other places, that’s the purview of the board,” Smith-Folds. We can say what we want to cut first, second, third, fourth, and if we get down to teachers, then we can tell our community with all assurances that we did our due diligence to keep the cuts away from the classroom as soon as possible.”
Board president Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy said if the board and district administration “do the work right” there will be less to cut, but the projected deficit in 2024-25 is “just the reality.”
Finding those cuts will not be easy work, Gonzalez-Hoy said.
“Every dollar that’s cut in that area is potentially a program or a resource that’s used at our schools or our central office,” he said.
Even with that work, the district may not be able to avoid layoffs and cutting staff positions.
“That’s a different story, it’s done through transparency and in the public,” Gonzalez-Hoy said. “At that point we’re going to have to make the difficult choices of cutting people.”
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Joan Holloway 4 weeks ago4 weeks ago
Why do people always praise teachers for the work they do and say "I don't know how you do it!" And then turn around and don't want them to be paid for the important work they do? Teachers are generally good-hearted people, mostly women who are often selfless and giving of their time, and that's why they are in a profession that is still grossly underpaid for the hours and work that is required of them. … Read More
Why do people always praise teachers for the work they do and say “I don’t know how you do it!” And then turn around and don’t want them to be paid for the important work they do?
Teachers are generally good-hearted people, mostly women who are often selfless and giving of their time, and that’s why they are in a profession that is still grossly underpaid for the hours and work that is required of them. In other underpaid jobs, people who work them just don’t give a crap and do lousy work and clock out the minute their shift is over. Do you want your child’s teacher to adopt this attitude as well?
Furthermore, the district office folk always put the blame for budget cuts on teachers’ pay (like they get paid so much as it is). Has anyone looked into their bloated salaries lately? They give themselves large pay raises without anyone knowing. Let’s start by cutting half of their jobs – they literally do nothing that actually impacts students and teachers on the ground level. Also, consultants who are hired by the school district and get paid millions of dollars are another area of budget bloat that the general public does not know about. These people are utterly useless to everyone else but to those at the top who hire them to make their work easier.
So, when the district starts lamenting about having to cut $20 million or so from the budget, and blames teacher pay raises for it, know that they are not to be trusted and are trying to protect their own useless jobs.
Todd Maddison 4 weeks ago4 weeks ago
"Board member Jamela Smith-Folds said that without the raises to teachers, the district would have continued to struggle to attract them for vacant positions." How about next time someone in education tells us this, we ask them for data? How many fully qualified applicants do they get per job opening, and how has this changed over time? What is their voluntary termination rate - how many people are leaving, excluding retirements? What do their exit interviews say about people … Read More
“Board member Jamela Smith-Folds said that without the raises to teachers, the district would have continued to struggle to attract them for vacant positions.”
How about next time someone in education tells us this, we ask them for data?
How many fully qualified applicants do they get per job opening, and how has this changed over time?
What is their voluntary termination rate – how many people are leaving, excluding retirements?
What do their exit interviews say about people leaving for salary issues – is that actually a thing, or are most voluntary terminations for other reasons (relocation, spouse job change, caring for a relative, having a family, etc.)?
I’ve looked at those numbers for my local district, and they don’t have a problem attracting candidates for job openings or a problem keeping employees – they just say they do so they can justify more money in paychecks.
Why do we cut millions from our kids education to give adults bigger paychecks without even asking for data supporting the need to do that?
Tony 4 weeks ago4 weeks ago
Same as OUSD. The Board makes unsupported deal with the teachers union, sells it to the public who do not know the details that the board receives from trained finance experts (you really think members understand finance??? PLEASE!) and memos from everyone else, and then everyone else – especially kids, will continue to pay the price for CA public school messes. Let us not forget that this school district, along with most all others serving … Read More
Same as OUSD. The Board makes unsupported deal with the teachers union, sells it to the public who do not know the details that the board receives from trained finance experts (you really think members understand finance??? PLEASE!) and memos from everyone else, and then everyone else – especially kids, will continue to pay the price for CA public school messes. Let us not forget that this school district, along with most all others serving low income black and brown student populations, sucked WWWWAAAAYYYY before COVID.
If my kids were in Piedmont or Orinda school districts, I would be happy – but I am in San Pablo, and that is not the case here. Parents need school choice or I want my tax dollars back from this mess!