Santa Ana Unified could lose 350 teachers and counselors due to budget cuts

The Santa Ana Unified School District may lay off roughly 350 teachers, counselors and other personnel to close a yawning budget gap caused by declining enrollment and the end of COVID relief dollars.

The school board passed a resolution on a 4-1 vote Thursday evening that paves the way for the layoffs as the district tries to close a more than $180-million deficit.

According to a staff report, state and federal COVID relief grants aren’t available for the school district and the state is cutting revenue based on the average daily attendance. At the beginning of the pandemic, the school district had 47,000 enrolled students, but that has since dropped to 36,000.

The school district is now looking at cutting around 169 teachers, 57 counselors, 55 instructional coaches, 15 curriculum specialists, 21 itinerant teachers and other positions.

At the same time, the school district is proposing a 3% pay bump and 3% bonus for Superintendent Jerry Almendarez, who made $347,083 in 2022, according to public records.

The sole voice on the dais against the resolution was Santa Ana Unified School District Trustee Valerie Magdaleno, noting the declining enrollment.

“ One of the primary reasons students are leaving Santa Ana Unified School District is because their families can no longer afford to live here in Santa Ana due to the high cost of living,” she said. “As we look towards long term solutions to stabilize our district and address declining enrollment. We will have to look for ways to be part of the solution.”

Hector Bustos, president of the board of trustees, said they were faced with an “incredibly difficult decision, one that weighs heavily on me and all of us but I think that it's necessary to ensure the long term stability of the Santa Ana Unified School District.”

How we got here

Ron Hacker, the associate superintendent and chief business official for the district, said Santa Ana Unified was already looking at layoffs when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Then, the federal and state government pumped money into school districts to stave off a recession.

Now, with those dollars dried up, the conditions are ripe, he said,  ”for a recession or for inflation or for stagflation.”

Balancing the budget without layoffs, Hacker said, would be “almost impossible” since 80% of it is comprised of salaries and benefits.

What’s being done to stave off layoffs?

In order to minimize the layoffs, the school district has offered a buyout program for all educators. Hacker said 164 staff members have indicated they will take the early retirement offer.

 The district is also looking at growing revenue by improving attendance and enrollment, he said.

Are management positions on the chopping block?

The superintendent will evaluate all management vacancies to determine if they’re needed.

Hacker said some management positions have not been backfilled because they knew “ we were going to get to this point.”

What’s next

Almendarez will now have to develop a budget stabilization plan that includes the final number of layoffs when he comes back to the school board early next year.