SAN DIEGO — Hundreds of San Diego Unified School District employees could be out of a job after this school year.
On Tuesday, the district's school board will vote on whether to approve the equivalent of more than 400 layoffs, from elementary school teachers to special education to campus police, as well as support staff.
These possible layoffs come as the district is facing a nearly $94 million budget shortfall, and federal COVID relief funds are coming to an end.
"These layoffs are not necessary," said Kyle Weinberg, a middle-school special education teacher, as well as the president of the union representing the district's teachers.
"We cannot afford as a district to be cutting positions when we should be looking at how we can make our schools as strong as possible," Weinberg said.
The district is eyeing the possible elimination of the equivalent of more than 430 positions, including 94 teachers, 21 central office administrators, five associate principals, and one principal, as well as hundreds of other jobs, from bus drivers and food service workers to behavioral support specialists and special ed staff.
"It's kind of unknown as to who is going to be affected," said father Alex Wolfe, whose second-grade son benefits from an individualized education program, providing extra help and support.
He's concerned about what impact these possible layoffs could have on the quality of education provided.
"Somebody else has to pick up the slack, so now they are doing more and the quality goes down," Wolfe told CBS 8.
"As a mom, I am concerned the class sizes will be too large and the extra supports we want for our kids will not be there," added another parent, who asked not to be identified because she is also a teacher in the district.
"The morale in schools, at least the school I work in right now, is definitely not great," she added.
Weinberg said his group, the San Diego Education Association, has proposed ways to avert these layoffs and still balance the budget, including attrition, retirements and dipping into reserves.
"We don't believe the district is exploring all solutions," he told CBS 8, "and that is unfortunate."
Weinberg said that if layoffs do ultimately happen, it would most likely fall on those educators with the least experience in the district "who do tend to be educators of color, and also serving schools with high needs populations," he added, "and this is why this decision to issue layoffs is even more devastating."
The school board meeting gets underway at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Educators said they plan to show up in numbers to voice their concerns directly to the board.
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