Teachers fear for jobs as CVUSD plans major budget cuts

The Coachella Valley Unified School District is planning on making major budget cuts and dozens of teachers are fearing for their jobs.

The district sent out a letter to teachers and parents claiming that the district is facing a $10.4 million deficit over the next three years as a result of a previous administration’s budget. The current administration is reducing costs by $6.9 million for the 2018-2019 school year and an additional $3.5 million for the following year.

“The intent was to, what we consider scare our teachers. And that’s what it did, it scared our teachers, with the cuts they’re talking about,” said Carissa Carrera, president of the Coachella Valley Teacher’s Association.

That was the reaction Carrera had after reading the letter. She’s calling the letter skewed.

“Skewed in a sense that they don’t include pertinent information,” Carrera said.

Carrera said the letter points to the 2017 teacher pay raise as a factor to the deficit.

“Salaries and benefits only account for 37% of the budget when most districts it’s 41, 42. There’s clear evidence that that’s not what the problem is,” Carrera said.

She also doesn’t agree with the district quoting the Riverside County Office of Education Chief Business official when it comes to confirming CVUSD’s qualified status.

“Our district created this three-year budget, all RCOE is doing, is agreeing with our own assessment and they don’t include that,” Carrera said.

However, Carrera does agree with cuts due to a downward trend in enrollment numbers.

According to CVUSD, enrollment went from 18,651 students in 2015 to about 500 less in 2017. But why are students leaving the district?

“Just things I know for a fact as we’ve lost students because of the political climate and the families we have. They’re scared, they’re worried, and we’ve lost some because of that and we tend to lose students after elementary to Desert Sands,” Carrera said.

While Carrera fears the first cuts will be to teachers, we asked CVUSD officials to confirm where they plan to make cuts, they responded in part:

“It’s premature to pinpoint specific cuts. All areas of the budget are under review for any opportunities for improved efficiency and belt tightening.”

“They are not taking into account two key things: 1. The natural cutting from retirees and teachers who leave the district, 40 to 50 people that’s savings of several million dollars which is half of what they’d have to save next year,” Carrera said. “The second thing is the governor’s proposed updated budget which is going to bring in about $8 million to our district next year which more than covers the 6.9 (million), so if they take those into account, which they acknowledge but will not take into account their budget deficit will go away, so CVTA doesn’t think we’re in a budget crisis.”

Carrera said teachers can be cut as early as mid-March, but they are still bargaining with the district.