Santa Rosa City Schools to lay off employees amid budget shortfall

Santa Rosa City Schools employees will be laid off in the following weeks amid a shortfall in expected revenue.

In a Parent Square message to the school district community Monday night, Superintendent Anna Trunnell announced that layoffs would be necessary in order to meet their legal budget requirements.

She did not say which employees or how many would be laid off, but said preliminary notices would go out to staff within the next two weeks.

According to a resolution that will go before the board Wednesday, the equivalent of about 85 full-time positions will be eliminated. That doesn’t necessarily translate to 85 people, though.

Many of those eliminated spots will include part-time work, staff vacancies, and previously announced staff departures and retirements.

Four of the positions are administrative, but there are no plans to reduce space in the district’s new offices at 110 Stony Point, which are under construction, Trunnell said.

More positions, including classified staff, could be up for elimination at the district’s March 13 board meeting, Trunnell said in an interview Tuesday with The Press Democrat.

“We were trying to kind of get people ready to expect some layoffs,” said Kathryn Howell, president of the Santa Rosa Teacher’s Association. “I think this number was a little shocking to some people.”

The school district is faced with expiring one-time funds it received during the pandemic, which went to health and safety programs. Due to a lower than expected cost of living adjustment from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2024-25 budget, the district will not receive enough funding “to bridge the gap between our revenue and our commitments,” Trunnell said in the message to parents.

To address the budget shortfall, the board is turning to cut personnel, which costs 80% of their school budget.

Trunnell said this is happening in across the state as districts have to present their second interim budget by March 17, which coincides with the need to notify people about staffing reductions.

“It's never a good day when we have to cut positions,” she added. “I would much rather be on the other end of the spectrum, meaning that we're growing enrollment, and we're increasing the number of staffing positions as a result.

“That's not our reality, nor is it for a lot of districts in this county and in this state.”

The district has been in and out of “qualified status” for several years, mainly due to declining enrollment.

A qualified certification is assigned when the district may not be able to afford its costs for the current year or the next two fiscal years.

Depending on their average daily attendance, districts must have between 1% to 3% of their revenue in reserves. When a district drops below that figure, they also fall under this category.

The Governor’s Budget Proposal left Santa Rosa City Schools with $5.1 million less in revenue than expected for the next school year and $6.1 million less for the following year based on their current budget.

Earlier this month, Lisa Cavin, the district’s chief business officer, told The Press Democrat that this year’s status is due to a “perfect storm” of factors: the expiring one-time funds, the cost-of-living-adjustment projections and the end of the state’s “hold harmless” provision.

During pandemic years, districts were spared major funding cuts because they were “held harmless” for drops in daily attendance caused by chronic absenteeism. Instead Santa Rosa City was able to use a rolling average of the previous three years attendance. Next year this policy will fall off.

If a qualified district doesn’t balance its budget by July 1, the county’s office of education would have to intervene.

Trustees are scheduled to take a vote in the upcoming Wednesday Santa Rosa City Schools regular board meeting to make staffing priorities and exemptions clear ahead of the layoffs.

According to the agenda, teachers who have Spanish, French, Math, Science and special education credentials, are assigned to a dual immersion program or an early childhood education specialist, or a combination of the above, would be exempt from layoffs if passed.

Another action item would solidify the decision-making process of which employees get let go so that it can be equitable. Factors would include credentials that are in demand, years of experience, degrees and number of teaching or specialist credentials. If it comes down to a tie, there would be a lottery.

Howell added that aside from the layoffs, there are concerns among staff on how teachers might be shuffled around to different school sites to help fill the gaps, as well as the need for teachers on special assignment to return to classrooms.

“Obviously this is a huge concern of the impact of students,” Howell said. “Overcrowded classrooms is always a concern, right? Because we know that smaller classrooms make for better learning environments. We don't want to see kids struggling in larger classes with less personal attention.”

She added that the reduction in staff is also a concern for safety, because it means fewer eyes on campus and less support for those students who are struggling.

“We hope they’re being extremely conservative,” Howell said, referring to the board’s decision to eliminate positions.

“We will try and protect our classroom instruction and service to our students as best as we can,” Trunnell said. “We know that this is tough for everyone in our community and we want to be able to lead with honor and humanity.”

You can reach Staff Writer Alana Minkler at 707-526-8531 or alana.minkler@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter,) @alana_minkler.