District mulls full-time layoffs

Roughly 80 teachers, many of them young and fresh out of college, may lose their jobs through budget cuts proposed by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District administration and approved Tuesday night by the board of education.

In all, more than 100 full-time positions, both classified and certificated, are slated to be cut from the district’s elementary and secondary levels to shore up a $13.5-million loss in state funding, according to the proposal.

On Wednesday, the district was preparing to notify those teachers and administrators targeted by the cuts while Kimberly Claytor, president of the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers, was simultaneously trying to save their jobs.

“A lot of them have families and mortgages, and in some cases their spouses don’t have jobs,� Claytor said. “Their livelihood is at stake. The problem is, they are the least senior of the district. They’re fresh out of college and just received their credentials. In the end, it looks like our youngest teachers are going to get bumped.�

Although the layoffs won’t officially occur until the third week of May, state law requires that those who are going to lose their jobs be notified by mid-March, said Paul Reed, deputy superintendent and the district’s chief business official.

“I’ve been doing this for over 40 years, and this is the worst I’ve seen it,� Reed said. “This is debilitating to our schools and to the district. There’s a great deal of pain out there.�

He added: “But we have to get ready for what the governor is going to take away from us.�

This year, the state is expected to take as much as 11% in funding away from schools across the state, Reed said.

The district layoffs are expected to increase class sizes and student-to-teacher ratios. It will also affect myriad programs, from the adult education to special education, the English Learners Department and the Gate/Improvement program.

Teachers aren’t the only ones whose jobs are on the line now.

A total of eight counselors may also lose their jobs as well, Claytor said, adding, “They’re the ones who work with the students in middle school and high school. They make sure they take the right classes and that they apply to the right colleges.�

In all, according to the proposed cuts, 52 positions would be eliminated at the K-3 level, accounting for a savings of $3.7 million — while 40 positions would be eliminated at the secondary level, accounting for $4.3 million in savings.

Eight positions would be eliminated in special education, saving just over $1 million.

The rest of the money would come from the day-to-day operations inside the district’s business office and human resources operations.