Sep 29, 2006

School board axes 55

Layoffs account for half of $3.5 million in mandated cuts

By Will Oremus

On a day when more than 200 students walked out of class to protest staff cuts, the San Mateo Union High School District's board voted 3-2 to approve a budget that includes layoffs of the equivalent of 55 full-time employees.

A week of informational picketing by teachers - who also stopped offering students out-of-class help in an effort to raise awareness of their plight - culminated in a school board meeting that felt more like a raucous political rally, complete with signs, jeers and boos.

Janitors, accountants, classroom aides and temporary teachers will likely lose their jobs, despite an outpouring of anger and pleas from employees and students before and during the meeting. The cuts accounted for about half of the $3.5 million in budget reductions the school district made to cover an unexpected revenue shortfall.

"We're about to pay for all of your mistakes," San Mateo High School sophomore Edan Freiberger told the board and top administrators, to thunderous applause from the audience.

Superintendent Sam Johnson in particular has been slammed for the district's deficit spending in recent years, which resulted from relying on county tax revenue estimates that proved inaccurate.

Dozens of speakers decried the cuts Thursday, including teachers, parents who spoke of immigrating to America because of the educational opportunities, and a tearful accountant who said, "I'd like to know how you can justify getting rid of the entire accounts payable department, and an entire level of office assistants."

A sign in the audience summed up the general sentiment toward the board and administrators, who quietly sat through 90 minutes of criticism: "Your mistakes; Our teachers."

A low point came when Trustee Peter Hanley was shouted down after criticizing the teachers' union - whose average member, he said, makes about $75,000 a year for about nine months of work - for rumor-mongering and instilling fear in students.

"The level of discourse, with some very notable exceptions, has been low," Hanley said before being drowned out by boos. A few rowdy students cheered when he said he had received "e-mails filled with hateful and disrespectful language."

However, some students spoke eloquently, as Trustee Linda Lees Dwyer noted before casting her vote against the cuts.

Lees Dwyer said she would have preferred to see all district staff accept a one-time 2.75 percent pay cut, which could have prevented layoffs. Unions representing teachers and staff have dismissed calls for pay cuts, saying that they are being punished for the district's mistakes.

Diane Vranes, the other trustee who opposed the budget, said she supported a "more humane plan" of making the cuts on a slower schedule and betting that the county would not respond by taking over the district.

E-mail Will Oremus at woremus@dailynewsgroup.com.