No teacher layoffs expected for RBUSD
by Garth Meyer
After the Manhattan Beach School District announced layoffs in early March, neighboring district Redondo Beach says there will be none, at least for now.
“Everyone will find themselves in a tough situation moving forward…” said Annette Alpern, RBUSD deputy superintendent, administrative services. “The
Covid Band-Aids have been taken off. Reality now… We’ve all planned for multiple scenarios.”
If a California district intends to lay off staff, by law it needs to make notifications by March 15. Redondo gave no such notices.
“A lot of districts, if unsure, give notices, then rescind them,” said Boardmember Dan Elder. “For RBUSD, we know that the state finances are awful. At current projections, our budget shows we have the minimum reserves required for this school-year and the following two years.”
So that means no layoffs in the next two years, at least?
“I don’t want to say no, but I can’t say yes,” Alpern said. “We just ‘right-size’ our staffing. A teacher moves, we won’t hire to replace them. We try to keep all classes at contracting level.”
Maximum class sizes for the district are, for Kindergarten to third grade: 27 students – “Our goal is 24-1,” Alpern said – Transitional Kindergarten; 24 kids to two teachers; and grades 4-12 has a maximum of 35 students per class.
“As several districts announce layoffs, we recognize the heightened sensitivity around what that means for RBUSD employees,” said Superintendent Nicole Wesley. “We have no intentions of issuing layoff notices for next year, and we will continue to scrutinize every open position before hiring to avoid layoffs in the future.”
On a related note, Los Angeles County anticipates a 19 percent decline in school-age children over the next 10 years, according to the California Department of Finance.
RBUSD forecasts a decline in enrollment at ½% each year.
“I believe we’ll have better enrollment than this, but we’re planning conservatively,” Alpern said.
She gave an RBUSD interim budget report in December, then an update March 12. She told of few changes since December, and showed how revenues are projected to decrease over the next two years.
“This deficit spending over multiple years just isn’t sustainable, obviously,” Elder said. “ … Each time we get an update, the state’s outlook is bleaker and bleaker.”
RBUSD’s reserves are at 7.64% of yearly operating expenses, well within the state requirement of between 3 and 10% for school districts of its size.
Reasons for declining enrollment region-wide, Alpern suggests are job flexibility post-pandemic, people moving to more affordable areas, decreasing birth rates and other factors.
“Declining enrollment – it’s not catastrophic, it’s a somewhat manageable level now,” Elder said.
A former member of the city’s planning commission, Elder points to housing affordability in the last handful of years as a specific factor for this district.
“North Redondo became the Manhattan Beach overflow. Now it’s all pretty unaffordable at this point, since the pandemic era,” he said.“North Redondo was increasing in student numbers before the pandemic.”
“We had growing enrollment (overall) until 2020,” Alpern said.
So how does RBUSD compare and contrast to the situation at MBUSD?
“We are trying to be very conservative so we can avoid those kind of abrupt changes …” Elder said.
Schools in California are funded by a formula based on sales tax, state income taxes and property taxes. Local property taxes are included by percentage. For example, an area of higher property taxes gets less money from the other sources, so it all evens out on a per-student basis.
“Schools don’t get more money with higher property taxes; that does not reflect in how schools are funded,” Elder said.
In California’s “Local Control Funding Formula,” higher-need students – such as those eligible for free and reduced lunch – bring in more money to a district, which may be used anywhere at the school.
“Not specifically tied to a purpose,” said Elder.
As for now, RBUSD awaits another announcement from Sacramento.
“The big unknown for us is the ‘May Revise,’” Elder said, when Governor Newsom releases updated budget numbers. “We’re waiting for the state to tell us how painful it’s going to be. The governor’s initial budget was more optimistic than the revenue numbers are showing.”
Could it spell layoffs?
“After next year and one after, is it possible? Sure,” Elder said.
“I think, obviously, it’s something we want to avoid,” Alpern said. “But I don’t think anybody could responsibly say it is off the table in the next three years, based on what we believe attendance and enrollment will look like. It’s something we will work to avoid at all costs. As much as we plan, school districts have to deal with what is happening in real time.”
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District approved layoffs for 33 teachers earlier this month, and is expected to restore 20 of those jobs after a $2.5 million parcel tax passed March 5 (to be certified next week).
“I’m not familiar with their reality, it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment,” Alpern said. “… There has to be an understanding (in RBUSD). There needs to be a tightening and a watching of our expenditures. We’re pretty conservative and watchful in our plan, that I think we’re going to be just fine. … We’re going to be fine because we’ll make adjustments to make sure we are fine.”
Full-day kindergarten in the district debuts this fall.
“When kids start early, they typically stay all the way through high school,” Elder said.
The governor’s May revision should offer more clues for what is to come.
“We’re waiting on pins and needles,” Alpern said. ER