Some 135 people are expected to be laid off from the Redlands Unified School District after the school board approved the cuts in a 3-2 vote Tuesday evening.
The upcoming layoff will include 22 librarians, nine health care technician, such as schools nurses. Some teachers, counselors and assistant principals will also be affected by the job cuts.
“A couple of years ago, the board agreed to pass a 13% increase to all salaries across the district. That played a little to today’s budget. There is also the impact of enrollment,” said Christine Stephens, spokesperson from Redlands Unified.
School officials said the district has $74 million in reserve, but $55 million is for restricted funding. After setting aside an undisclosed amount for maintenance reserve, the district is left with about $8 million.
“We understand it’s going to impact for sure the day-to-day at the district in general,” Stephens said “It’s more about revisiting how we do the system now and with the removal of the positions how can we best support the sites and families with less people.”
At least one parent that NBC Los Angeles spoke to said she’s discouraged by the idea of fewer teachers and staff within the district as she blamed the ongoing lack of leadership for the financial mess.
“Instead of focusing on how to help our teachers and staff grow and thrive, our board members have been focused on naming books and flags in classrooms and done nothing to help our school district,” said Sam Trad, who has two children in district schools.
The district said the workers impacted by the layoffs will be notified by March 15 and will be given priority status to reapply in the future if an opening within the district comes up.