Like many institutions around the state, Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) is struggling to make ends meet. The District had already cut its 2007-2008 school-year budget by $1.2 million as funding reductions required, leaving few if any superfluous budget items. The economic downturn has necessitated further reductions. FUSD must reduce its 2009-2010 budgets by an additional $1.7 million.

The School Board has held Budget Study Sessions on 2nd and 4th Tuesdays for the past few months to proactively address the problem. At both the special sessions and the regular board meetings, tensions have been building between the various involved parties. Dr. Mike Bush, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services, has provided a budget update at each meeting, usually accompanied by District Office staff recommendations for potential cuts. Most District employees are categorized as certificated (teachers), classified, or confidential, and two of those groups have union representation which is anxious to alleviate the impact of budget cuts on its members. CSEA (California School Employees Association) represents classified employees such as teachers’ aides, library clerks, computer lab instructional assistants, food service workers, school office staff, custodians, maintenance, and grounds workers. FUTA (Fillmore Unified Teachers Association) represents teachers. Fifty-six percent of the proposed cuts are in personnel. Eighty-seven percent of the District’s budget is for employee costs, including salary and health benefits.

According to Superintendent Jeff Sweeney, “The administration has worked diligently to ensure that no one group takes a disproportionate reduction over other groups.” Fillmore teacher and FUTA President Theresa Marvel disagrees. She said that the District has fewer classified employees than ever, and fewer teachers than ever, but a larger district administration and confidential staff than ever before. Marvel claims the number of district administrators and their support staff has grown disproportionately to enrollment. She also noted that teachers and classified employees are expected to provide more services than ever before.

Jack L. Morales, President of CSEA Chapter #421, provided a statement describing the potential impact of reductions in classified staff: “Classified employees’ positions under the CSEA collective bargaining agreement here at FUSD are being recommended as potential reduction of hours, elimination of their positions and reduction of a workday in a calendar year. What does this mean to the community here at Fillmore? It means fewer services to our students and affecting employees in losing their medical insurance coverage. We, the classified employees of FUSD, want to bring an opportunity to collaborate and negotiate in “good faith” to the table, creative options that would possibly save the elimination of such positions and the reduction of hours to those who have been told by management of the possible reductions. We’re hoping and praying that our current school board trustees will retract from any proposals that will be presented or recommended from district management until all possibilities to negotiate these effects have been established.”

Bush has frequently tried to calm protests by assuring the public that the staff’s recommendations to the Board are not final. So far, the decisions that the Board have finalized have been precipitated by legal deadlines. Sweeney announced, “The Board will vote on a resolution on April 14 to move ahead with recommended reductions [including classified layoffs] simply because there are personnel deadlines, mandated by Education Code, that must be met.” The Board must submit a complete balanced budget by June 30, 2009.

According to Sweeney, the Board’s meetings regarding the budget have been “highly publicized and transparent”. He added, “The District has met with CSEA, the union that represents our Classified, on several occasions to discuss possible solutions to minimize the reductions.” A current CSEA executive board member said that in the past, the CSEA negotiation team has always worked together with the District to help find solutions to the recommended reductions before they went to the Board.

Theresa Marvel argued that from the beginning of the budget reduction process FUTA, the Board, and the District had all said that they wanted to keep the cuts as far away from the students as possible, and yet a handout listing suggested cuts that was given out by the District at the March 24th Board Meeting indicated that the majority of the cuts directly affect programs that serve students. She noted classified or certificated employees work directly with students on a daily basis. She continued “The District Office is as far as one can get from the students. The District Office Administration and their Confidential employees need to be seriously downsized. Would students know if the District Office Administration and their Confidential employees are not in their offices? No. Lunches would still be made, buses would still run, teachers and their aides would still be teaching and nurses would still be administering medication, and students, most importantly of all, would still be learning because of the great effort by FUTA and CSEA employees.”

According to a concerned CSEA member, ten new positions have been created at the district office over the last 3 years costing the District $1.2 million per year. None of the newly created positions are at the sites where students and parents are directly served. According to her, on the latest list of proposed reductions there are 15 District Office positions targeted to lose 3 workdays per year but there are 43 positions at school sites targeted for reductions in hours per day or days per year.

At the April 1st meeting, School Board Member Tony Prado questioned the cuts to classified positions, noting that those employees are the lowest paid employees in the district. He said you have to cut a lot to find a little. Marvel believes that reducing District Office staff salaries and compensation packages would affect fewer people and result in greater gain.

Library clerks, computer lab and special education assistance are all targeted for reduction. Some have had the length of their work year reduced by 10 days, and others will lose health benefits due to shorter hours. If the proposed cuts are enacted, Mountain Vista Elementary School’s computer lab will be left without anyone to coordinate student learning, school libraries will be open fewer hours or closed one day a week, and the San Cayetano computer lab could also be closed one day per week.

When asked “What alternatives are available to keep more people from losing their jobs, having their hours cut, and losing their health care benefits?” Sweeney replied “Currently 87% of the school district’s budget is related to employee costs. We have worked hard to keep cuts away from employees. Based on news articles and conversations with colleagues, Fillmore Unified is proposing fewer employee reductions than other districts. However, given the magnitude of cuts the District is facing, it is impossible not to impact employees. The responsibility to provide services to our students and remain fiscally solvent, during this economic crisis, is arduous. The State’s budget cuts have impacted many businesses and agencies and unfortunately, school districts up and down the state are finding themselves in the same position of needing to make cuts to continue to operate with reduced funding.”

FUSD Board Member Tony Prado feels the district can do better to save jobs and said “If I am not incorrect, and I do stand to be corrected, $300,000, would save the hours, days, and benefits that would be lost. The suspension of the teachers 1% raise, and reducing the work calendar by 2 days (1 day = $115,000) for all employees possibly could solve the problem. Also, if the city council would be willing to fund the sheriff resource officer that costs the district $100,000, it would be a tremendous benefit by allowing employees of this community to suffer less.” He was expressing his personal opinion, and reserved the right to alter his opinion after discussing these issues with fellow board members and district administrators. Other board members did not respond to the Gazette’s request for information regarding the current budget crisis.

See complete FUTA and Superintendent Statements attached below.