In an effort to reduce BHUSD’s budget by over $1.5 million, administrative staff recommended the layoff of 20.6 teaching positions at a Board of Education special study session Monday.

The recommendation comes on the heels of an almost $1 million dollar shortfall revealed earlier this month after Beverly Hills Unified School District underwent an annual government-required independent audit.  

In a presentation led by Interim Chief Business Officer Mary Anne McCabe and BHUSD Director of Human Resources, the proposed certificated staffing cuts will be shared across all grade levels and school sites. No programmatic cuts were suggested.

Proposed are:

• four staffing reductions at the kindergarten through third grade levels;

• two staffing reductions at the fourth and fifth grade levels;

• four staffing reductions (two English, one math, one multiple subject) at the sixth through eighth grade levels;

• 10.6 staffing reductions (two English, two math, two physical education, one art, one history, one physical science, one Spanish, .6 French) at the ninth through 12th grade levels.

The reductions follow lowered projected enrollment numbers for the 2010-2011 school year. Cutting 20.6 certificated teaching positions could provide $1,648,000 in recovered funds.

Reducing certificated positions, said BHUSD staff, would also reduce the student/teacher ratio at all grade levels.

“There are a number of districts that are going to 29:1, 30:1 and up to 34:1,” said Interim superintendent Jerry Gross. “We are, in some cases, 10 students less (per class). We are very blessed.”

Per staff findings, the student/teacher ratios would be reduced as follows:

• grades K-3 current = 18:1; with staff recommended reductions = 17:1;

• grades 4-5 current = 26:1; with staff recommended reductions = 25.5:1;

• grades 6-8 current = 28.5:1; with staff recommended reductions = 26:1;

• grades 9-12 current = 21:1; with staff recommended reductions = 21:1.

“It doesn’t look like there is any way we can avoid these reductions because they align with (lowered) enrollment,” said Board of Education member Myra Lurie.

Boardmember Brian Goldberg called for other solutions to recover the $1.6 million such as lowering the districts reserve limit from 3.6 to 3 percent, a move he claims would save an estimated $325,000 and four to six teachers. Board President Steven Fenton also favored this reserve “hair cut.”

Other moves, such as natural attrition of current staff, may save positions as well. Annually, BHUSD sees about 5 percent of teachers vacate positions.

But warned Cherniss: “It’s not going to be a windfall this year. It could even be less than most years.” Staff was directed to look into early retirement incentives, including a $1,000 bonus for early notification, to encourage stronger attrition numbers.

Boardmember Jake Manaster and board Vice President Lisa Korbatov requested a line-by-line “restaurant menu” of where the cuts would come from and how much each position would actually save per proposed cut.

“We need to be careful about not just looking at this year, but the whole picture,” said Manaster, who cautioned that forthcoming years would require deeper cuts. “I’d rather not be reactive, but proactive.”

Manaster also called for increased Beverly Hills Education Foundation donations. BHEF is able to provide monies that can be used to fund staffing positions.

BHUSD staff proposed further considerations to align the budget including an energy management program, labor negotiated furlough days, examining possibilities for additional revenue streams within adult education and site cafeterias, as well as the reduction of counselor positions.

The board unanimously agreed that counselor cuts should be removed from consideration.  

Layoff notices, or “pink slips,” must be submitted by March 15, per state law.

“Every pink slip we give is not given arbitrarily,” said Cherniss. “We take it very seriously. That being said, we need the flexibility.”  Final layoff notices, however, are not issued until May 15, said Cherniss.

“It is unfair for the district to transform nearly $1 million of recently discovered accounting irregularities into layoffs of innocent teachers who were in no way involved in the poor administrative decision-making that has contributed enormously to a perceived deficit,” said Chris Bushee, president of the Beverly Hills Education Association. “Unfortunately, the administration's proposal to close nearly two dozen teaching positions in one fell swoop hurts students the most.”

The board has only three meetings before the March 15 deadline to finalize the course of action they will take to find the $1.5 million in necessary budget reductions.

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