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School Budget Crisis

San Diego County Schools Face Budget Crisis
School boards across San Diego County have been grappling with balancing their budgets in the face of the largest cut to public education in California’s history.

Fallbrook Union High School District
On Monday, February 25, employees of the Fallbrook Union High School District (FUHSD) who are SEIU Local 221 members gathered at a well-attended school board meeting where the FUHSD Board of Trustees. The Board addressed the issue of classified and certificated personnel layoffs in an effort to compensate for the district’s $1.5 million budget deficit. The district’s deficit is a result of the State of California’s predicted $16 billion shortfall for fiscal year 2008-09.

Fallbrook Employees

Local 221 members, who are FUHSD employees, outside the Board of Trustees meeting.

Members spoke one after another, asking the Board to reconsider cutting classified personnel because the health and safety of the students could be jeopardized without sufficient custodial and classified staff.

Although the FUHSD Board of Trustees voted against the will of our members, they drastically reduced classified personnel cuts from previous proposals. The Board’s decision to reduce the number of classified layoffs was due in large part to the lobbying efforts of FUHSD union members, working with the Government & Community Relations staff at Local 221. The FUHSD Board of Trustees also voted unanimously to forego their stipend and health benefit expenses until the district’s financial outlook improves.

Grossmont Union High School District
The Grossmont Union High School (GUHSD) Board of Trustees is slated to vote on classified personnel layoffs in mid-April. Employees of the GUHSD who are SEIU Local 221 members and staff from the Government & Community Relations Department have been meeting with the Department of Human Resources and various trustees to ensure that classified personnel cuts are avoided. We have made numerous proposals to the district about exhausting all non-personnel, cost-saving options before resorting to layoffs. So far, the GUHSD Board of Trustees has been receptive to our ideas. However, they have chosen not to seek such good-faith proposals as eliminating their stipend and benefit expenses, unlike other San Diego county school boards. The GUHSD is facing a $10 million budget deficit.

School Board Spotlight
The Poway Unified School District (PUSD) and San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) Boards of Trustees have joined SEIU Local 221 in our commitment to avoid classified personnel cuts. Both districts are working with union members and the Government & Community Relations Department to solve their budget deficits without resorting to deep personnel cuts.

Please contact Carlos Marquez, Government & Community Relations Representative at 858-560-0151 or e-mail him at carlos.marquez@seiu221.org if you have questions or concerns about the school budget cuts.


San Diego Community College District Bargaining Survey 
Local 221 union members of the SDCCD have started returning bargaining surveys that were mailed to them in early March. As they gear up for contract negotiations in June of 2008, Worksite Organizer Kim Martinic is working closely with members to collect and prioritize contract proposals. The Government & Community Relations Department continues to foster relationships with elected officials and the community to build solidarity as part of this contract campaign. The SDCCD contract expires in December of 2008.

  You can print out a copy of the survey here.