Weeks after the Redlands school board voted 3-2 to lay off up to 135 classified and certificated employees, the Redlands Teachers’ Association is pushing back on the district’s reasoning for the layoffs.
Union challenges district’s explanation
District leaders have said the deficit stems from declining enrollment, rising special education costs and raises approved during the 2022-23 school year. Those raises — which amounted to about a 13% increase — were approved during a year when the state allocated what administrators described as one-time funding.
The teachers’ union disputes that characterization.
Redlands Teachers’ Association President Stephen Caperton said while enrollment is down and special education spending has increased, the 2022-23 raise was supported by ongoing state funding tied to increases in the Local Control Funding Formula.
In 2022-23, the state had a budget surplus of some $97 billion. With the extra funds, the state budget provided a significant increase to Local Control Funding Formula rates. The LCFF was implemented during the 2013-14 school year and overhauled K-12 finance. School districts are funded with a base grant per student rather than by categorical program funding.
The 2022-23 LCFF increase was driven by a 6.56% cost-of-living adjustment and an additional $4.32 billion, or 6.28%, boost for base funding. According to California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, this totaled more than $5 billion in ongoing discretionary funding that was aimed at addressing declining enrollment and rising costs.
Caperton said he doesn’t believe it was the 2022-23 raise that caused the budget constraints.
“It was not like we took a 13% raise in a year where they had 3% coming in,” said Caperton.
He also pointed to staffing levels at the district office, noting that 12 positions have been added since 2019 while student enrollment has declined. Those positions account for 7% of the proposed layoffs, he said.
District cites enrollment decline, funding limits
Christine Stephens, RUSD’s public information officer, said in an email: “Staffing decisions — whether classroom, support or administrative — are evaluated through enrollment data, programmatic needs, compliance requirements and long-term fiscal sustainability.” However, RUSD would not accommodate KVCR’s requests for an interview with Superintendent Juan Cabral and instead referred to comments he made at the Feb. 10 board meeting.
Cabral, who was not superintendent at the time of the raises, said during the meeting that it’s not easy to recommend layoffs.
“I appreciate every position that we have … every one of them impacts our students, and we need all of them,” said Cabral. “We also need to reduce our budget.”
Cabral said RUSD did not see all of the COLA funding and that district leadership at the time “knew that we would have to use one-time money to make up the difference from what we actually received versus what we’re giving.”
Cabral said the district lost some 400 students from 2022 to 2024, which meant COLA was not going to be fully funded.
“COLA is attached to per-student increases,” said Cabral. “If your student numbers go down, then the total COLA you receive is going to be less than what you thought it was going to be.”
Layoff timeline
The cuts will impact both classified and certificated employees, from teachers to counselors to instructional aides. Redlands Unified School District is facing a $17 million deficit. The proposed list of cuts equals some $15 million, according to Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Jason Hill.
Cabral will present the board with an official list of layoffs for the school board to vote on in March. Under California Education Code, certificated employees like teachers and counselors must be given preliminary notice by March 15 and permanent notice by May 15.
Laid-off education employees have preferred reemployment rights for 39 months in California. Cabral said if the budget changes, those employees will be the first ones asked back.