Districts should target cuts away from the classroom

Laying off teachers and dismantling class size reduction programs should be a district's last resort in dealing with the budget crisis, says CTA President Wayne Johnson. They should be considered only after school districts have reduced their reserves and decreased spending on administration.

"Otherwise, students will suffer. They won't get the quality education they deserve. School districts should be targeting budget cuts away from the classroom, away from education professionals who work directly with students."

In reaction to the March 15 legal deadline to notify teachers that they might be laid off, many school administrators have deliberately inflated the number of employees targeted, creating unnecessary chaos.

Teacher layoff notices issued statewide total at least 14,000, according to CTA estimates. The number represents approximately 16 percent of the certificated workforce in the 223 districts reporting by March 21.

"With districts like Adelanto Elementary, Hesperia Unified and Alameda giving all of their teachers layoff notices at once, it's obvious the process is being abused," says Johnson. "To spare administrators, some districts are slaughtering proven school reforms like class size reduction and threatening to lay off teachers. Others are using the state budget crisis to gain an unfair advantage at the bargaining table and scare teachers into taking pay cuts or reductions in health care benefits."

CTA is providing legal support for any member who receives a layoff notice. Teachers who receive a reduction-in-force (RIF) notice are entitled to a hearing before an administrative law judge where the district must prove that it has legal grounds for the layoff.

CTA is also part of a coalition fighting to preserve the state's class size reduction program, which provides extra funding to districts for keeping class sizes at no more than 20 in kindergarten through third grade.

Called Californians for Smaller Class Sizes, the coalition includes the California State PTA, the California Association for the Education of Young Children, the California Black Chamber of Commerce, the National Coalition of Hispanic Organizations, People for the American Way (PFAW), the Black American Political Association of California (BAPAC), Madres Del Este De Los Angeles (Mothers of East Los Angeles), Industrial Areas Foundation, the Gray Panthers of Long Beach, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), and others.

The class size program is under attack by legislation pushed by school administrators that would allow school districts to pack more students into classrooms while keeping the $906 per student in incentive money for other projects.

The funds are earmarked under current law to ensure that classes have no more than 20 students in them, but several pending bills - all opposed by CTA - would allow districts to increase class sizes by 10 to 20 percent.

At a March 5 hearing of the Assembly Education Committee, CTA Vice President-elect David A. Sanchez and representatives of the California State PTA attacked proposals to allow school district administrators to remove class size limits.

"CTA believes that small classes - with no more than 20 students - provide students with the individual attention that is helping improve student performance," Sanchez testified. "Under the guise of flexibility, such bills will undermine the most effective and popular education reform implemented over the past seven years."

In its original form, AB 42 by Assembly Member Lynn Daucher (R-72) would have let districts force two more students into these classrooms. The Assembly Education Committee has now decided to use the measure as a vehicle for any changes in class size caps. Assembly Members Bill Maze (R-34) and Tim Leslie (R-4) have already melded their measures into the bill and signed on as co-authors.

CTA and its coalition partners are mobilizing their members to oppose AB 42 and similar bills before the Assembly panel takes them up in late April or early May. They are being urged to remind their legislators that:

• Maintaining a class size cap of 20 improves student achievement and is crucial to ensuring that students receive the individual attention they need.
• The CTA-opposed proposals that allow districts to keep the additional money they are receiving from the state (about $906 per student) will not save the state a cent or help it bridge the budget deficit.
• More than 70 percent of voters view class size reduction as one of the most effective education reforms of the past seven years.