School layoffs OKd

Last year, for example, the district had to cut $11 million from its budget, she said.

The year before that the district had to do away with $8 million.

This year, however, was the first time where the cutbacks resulted in the elimination of positions.

Now add to the fiscal equation the uncertainty of future costs in health care.

An additional $1.5 million in cuts had to be made on top of the $12 million in order to meet an unfunded obligation to the 2,600 employees belonging to either the teacher’s union or the California School Employees Assn. The money represents a 6% projected increase in health costs, although the district is not sure yet how much the health-care costs will actually increase.

“It’s a contractual agreement made a few years ago,” Boss said. “This is a pool of money that’s being set aside for the employees.”

Hardest hit in the cuts, if anecdotes are any sort of indication, are the elementary school teachers who are fresh out of college and the district’s adult education program, where ESL classes will be eliminated for English-limited speaking parents, said Kimberly Claytor, president of the Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers.

By the end of June, a 40-person staff at the district’s adult education program will be reduced to a handful of teachers at the Burbot Educational Support Services and Teaching Center, at 2045 Meyer Place in Costa Mesa.

The Work Force Readiness Program, which helps students and adults prepare for careers, also will be eliminated, leaving the adult education program with only “a bare bones” version of a High School Diploma Program, officials said.

That program helps students who are having a hard time academically.

According to Martha Rankin, lead administrator of the adult education program, more than 5,000 students pass through the halls of adult education each year, but that number now will be reduced significantly.