Furloughs Included in SJUSD Funding Agreement

Editor's note: The following statement was a release in conjunction with the San Juan Unified School District and the San Juan Teachers' Association. This being a tentative agreement, teachers will have to ratify it for it to become effective.

From San Juan Unified School District spokesman Trent Allen

Officials announced today that a tentative agreement has been reached between the San Juan Teachers’ Association and San Juan Unified School District.

The two-year agreement addresses the impacts of continued state budget cuts on the district’s operations and includes two furlough days with the possibility of up to 11 additional furlough days depending on final state funding and the outcome of November’s initiatives to raise funds in support of education and other essential public services.

“State funding cuts are destroying public education and damaging the future of California’s children,” said SJTA President Shannan Brown. “The continued underfunding of education in California has resulted in larger class sizes, fewer teachers, fewer counselors, and shorter school years. Voters must approve the governor’s funding initiative in November.”

San Juan Unified faces a $35 million budget gap heading into 2012-13. The district has taken action to reduce that gap by $11 million through . In a worst-case scenario, the tentative agreement with SJTA will provide an additional $12.3 million in budget savings leaving $11.7 million in solutions needed from one-time reserves and on-going discussions with the District’s other employee bargaining groups. 

Non-represented employees including management staff and the superintendent’s cabinet will automatically take the same number of furlough days as other employees.

The tentative agreement comes after six months of ongoing discussions and formally creates a budget review committee to make recommendations to the board of education and SJTA for future consideration in addressing the district’s fiscal health.

“Our economy and our state leaders may have created our fiscal crisis but once again our teachers, counselors and other dedicated credentialed staff have stepped forward to be a part of finding solutions,” said Superintendent Glynn Thompson. “While we haven’t always agreed, SJTA’s leadership has spent the last several months actively engaged in analyzing our fiscal problems and collaboratively developing answers that allow us to continue the implementation of our community-developed strategic plan as our reduced resources allow.”

SJTA members will vote on the agreement by Friday. The Board of Education will vote on the agreement June 26.

Readers, how do you foresee this move impacting San Juan Unified School District schools' ability to provide a consistent level of education to students?

Fair Oaks Patch contributed to this report.