District cuts $2 million from budget, teachers receive pink slips

Max GumbelStaff WriterIn an attempt to eliminate a $4.6 million budget deficit, Samo has given pink slips to multiple teachers at Samo signifying that their job is not secure for the coming year.The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) has decided to cut over $2 million from next school year’s budget, Samo principal Laurel Fretz said. The decision to cut $2 million followed a Board of Education budget meeting on Feb. 18, and according to Fretz, another $2 million cut is probable in two years, during the 2013-2014 school year.Samo English teacher and yearbook adviser Amy Chapman has received pink slips twice, during her first and second years of teaching at Samo, and said that pink slips are often given out copiously during budget crises.“The school is legally obligated to let teachers know by March if their job is not completely secure,” Chapman said. “During a budget crisis, pink slips tend to be handed out to many teachers.”However, Chapman continued to teach at Samo after receiving both pink slips.“The first year I got a pink slip I was only supposed to fill the void of a teacher who left to teach in South Korea, and the second year almost everybody who taught a core educational class got a pink slip,” Chapman said. “The pink slips only mean that the school cannot guarantee teachers a job next year; it does not necessarily mean that they will not return.”According to Fretz, some pink slips may not be permanent this year as well, depending on student enrollment for next year.“A few teachers may get pink slips but still come back next year, if we have enough students register,” Fretz said.Superintendent of Schools Sandra Lyon said SMMUSD officials realized the deficit was a problem after governor Jerry Brown released the official California budget for 2012-2013 on Jan. 5, 2012.“We learned that the cost of living adjustment we had built into our district budget projections was unfunded, causing a huge hit,” Lyon said.Lyon also said the deficit partially increased due to a lack of buses to transport students to school, which negatively impacted student attendance.“There was a previous cut to transportation that ended up being converted into an average daily attendance cut,” Lyon said. “That was a further hit.”According to the Santa Monica Daily Press (SMDP), another reason for the deficit is financial miscalculation on a state level. The California government believed that SMMUSD would be supplemented with around $17 million from the Santa Monica Redevelopment Agency.“SMMUSD should receive $16.9 million in new property taxes, which exceeds the $13 million contributed by the state for education and pushes the district into ‘basic aid’ status,” SMDP reporter Ashley Archibald wrote in an article about the dilemma. “Unfortunately, it is extremely unlikely that the district will actually get the money this fiscal year because of certain contractual obligations made by Santa Monica’s Redevelopment Agency that need to be paid off first.”However, Fretz says that the budget cuts are not as daunting as they seem.“At Samo, no programs will be cut, and hopefully the economics of the country will improve in the next few years.” Fretz said. “The cuts this year will not feel huge, but they are very necessary.”mgumbel@thesamohi.com