The Pasadena Unified School District today [Thursday] announced plans to layoff dozens of teachers, counselors, nurses and other certificated employees to bridge a $7 million to $12 million deficit expected for the upcoming school year.
Officials are expected to issue pink slips to the equivalent of 81.5 employees.
Some of the positions, if not all, may be reinstated as has been done in the past when the district came up with extra funds.
The deficit projection for the 2013-14 school year that prompted the layoffs was based on declining enrollment and the expiration of grants, according to the school district's superintendent Jon R. Gundry.
The district initially faced an even greater deficit, before the approval of Prop. 30, which directed more tax dollars to education.
Officials said the deficit could be further reduced if they receive $5.1
million in grants given out based on the number of English language learners
and low-income students in the district.
"There are still many variables to factor in this spring, including the
effects of the federal sequestration, the fate of Governor Brown's local
control funding formula and the final makeup of the 2013-2014 state budget,"
Gundry said. "Authorizing reduction in force notices means that PUSD has the
flexibility to prepare for a worst-case scenario."
Districts are required to send out layoff notices by March 15, often as
a formality, but extra funds often surface before the layoffs are finalized.
Since 2010, the district has issued 365 notices, and of that, 23
actually have resulted in people losing their jobs.
