Hermosa’s two public schools could lose 20 percent of their employees, including 11 and-a-half fulltime teachers, and see increased class sizes, if state cuts force a “bare bones” budget to be adopted, the city school board has been told.
Class sizes could grow from 25 to 30 in kindergarten through third grade, from 27 to 35 in fourth and fifth grades, and from 29 to 40 in sixth through eighth grades, according to a preliminary report from a special committee studying the school district’s budget from top to bottom.
A bare bones budget also could see the position of district superintendent combined with that of Hermosa View School principal, committee member Greg Breen told the board last week in the preliminary report. View School, the smaller of the two campuses, teaches kindergarten through second grade.
School library technicians could be eliminated, along with teachers who work individually with some students in the lower grades, although parent fundraisers have said they could raise enough money to keep those programs going, said Breen, who is also a former school board member.
Any new investment in textbooks could be shelved, and maintenance could dip, with classrooms cleaned perhaps every other day or every third day, instead of daily, Breen said.
He said the committee has not delved deeply into the effects of a bare bones budget on the students’ education, but he said such changes could lead to a 10 percent drop in student test scores, which continually rank Hermosa kids in the top 10 percent in California.
“You can’t get the same quality for less money,” Breen said.
In an interview, he said a 20 percent budget cut could play out in other ways instead, such as a 20 percent cut in salaries, or some combination of pay and staffing cuts. He pointed out that pay cuts would be subject to collective bargaining negotiations with employees.
Breen told the school board there is some cause for hope that state budget cuts to education will not be as drastic as the committee fears. He pointed to the governor’s announcement this month that tax revenues to the state were larger than expected, which could dull the budget ax somewhat.
Hermosa’s 1,300-student K-8 school district has been bracing for a possible 10 percent cut to its already dwindling revenue stream, and the “bare bones” committee has been trying to determine how to deliver the minimum schooling that state law allows.
Other committees are looking into possibilities such as merging with a larger, neighboring school district, asking voters for more money through a parcel tax, or converting one or both of Hermosa’s campuses to charter school status.
The committees are scheduled to provide full reports to the school board at a special meeting Wednesday, June 15. ER
