All eyes are set on the San Francisco Unified School District's meeting with the Board of Education.
"We are in the process right now of closing $113 million deficit for next year. We are looking at all our spending throughout the district to make sure that we can submit a balanced budget by June," said Laura Dudnick, SFUSD spokesperson.
As the school district works to tackle the multimillion-dollar budget deficit, closing schools now is off the table but laying off staff later - is not.
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"We will likely have to issue layoffs down the road and there is a process that we go through to make sure that we follow state law for that. It's a process that all school districts in California follow," said Dudnick.
According to SFUSD, 80% of the budget is spent on staff. The school district tells me they will likely have to reduce workforce.
In a closed session, Maria Su, SFUSD's new superintendent, is set to update the Board of Education on the districts effort to develop a 2025-2026 budget. The teacher's union says they want transparency despite Su's team confirming no layoffs will be voted on yet.
"They are talking about keeping the lights on, but what about social workers, what about counselors, nurses, and even assistant principals - all these folks who relate to our children beyond our teachers," said Frank Lara, executive vice president of United Educators of San Francisco.
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SFUSD is beginning the process by presenting three actions it calls routine:
1. notify temporary teachers that their one-year contracts will end at the year's close
2. notify credentialed staff whose probationary period is ending that they are not return next year
3. send preliminary letters of release or reassignment to central office certificated administrators and assistant principals
Luz Pena: "How many people could potentially fall under those three categories?"
Laura Dudnick: "We haven't issued any names. That is not public information that the board will be considering tonight. It will be about 300 employees."
United Educators of San Francisco which represents 6,000 people working for the district, is hoping to be notified of any changes before the March 15 deadline.
"The biggest concern our members are entering tonight is the fact that there is so little transparency around what is actually happening with the school district's budget," said Lara.