LEUSD Teacher Layoffs Averted Under Temporary Agreement

A tentative agreement between the Lake Elsinore Teachers Association and the Lake Elsinore Unified School District will, if approved by LETA members, stave off layoffs.

The tentative agreement reached late Thursday “will help preserve LETA bargaining unit member jobs and balance the budget,” according to a joint announcement from the LEUSD and LETA.

Instead of layoffs, the tentative agreement puts in place 12 furlough days for LETA members.

LETA members are scheduled to vote on the tentative agreement before February 24.

The negotiations between the LETA and the LEUSD have been in response to Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget announced last month, which includes a $370 per-student-cut in Average Daily Attendance funding. The cut equates to $7.58 million in lost revenue for the district, according the joint announcement. Additionally, the proposed state budget includes a number of cuts in revenue that will result in more than a $15 million deficit for the district, according to the released statement.

One furlough day for LETA members equals a budget savings of $466,125, according to the statement. If ratified, LETA’s total contributed savings from all the furloughs is $5,593,500.

Three of the proposed furlough days will hit this fiscal year, and nine would fall in fiscal year 2012-13. The proposed furloughs days for the 2011-12 school year are May 30, 31, and June 1. The 2012-13 furlough days include five student days: April 1, May 24, and June 3, 4 and 5, 2013. The remaining four furlough days would be teacher workdays: November 30 and December 21, 2012, and June 6 and 7, 2013. The teacher workdays were moved to later in the school year, so that they could be recouped as budget conditions warrant following the November election.

The tentative agreement did include restoration language that includes calculations for the return of furlough days should additional revenues become available to the district.

As part of the tentative agreement, a temporary variance in class size limits will continue for another year. Class size limits of 36 are in effect for grades 6-12, but the temporary variance has allowed for up to 38 students.