As many as 60 teachers in the K-12 Santa Barbara school system could be laid off next month -- partly the result of a recent union-negotiated pay raise for roughly 800 teachers who survive the cuts.

Their loss could also mean the loss of programs in band, art, intra-mural sports and special education, as well as a policy that keeps class sizes low in ninth grade.

Although 60 teachers have received a pink slip from the district, that number doesn’t necessarily reflect how many will actually be let go this year. The Santa Barbara school board must make that decision next week, and the final notices must be received by May 15.

Dos Pueblos High teachers Lindsay and Bill Woodard both received layoff notices. Photo by Edgar Oliveira / SBN

“When we first got the notices, I was depressed for about a week,” said Lindsay Woodard, a 32-year-old Goleta native, who teaches in the very classroom where she once learned as a student.

“We really kind of kill ourselves to do the best job for our students," she said. "We have two young girls, and I get up at 4 a.m. every day to make it work.”

Her 33-year-old husband added: “I’m not unsympathetic to the board. I’m not mad at anyone. I’m just kind of frustrated. I may lose my job and it has nothing to do with my performance.”

On Tuesday night, the board agonized over a long list of budget cuts that must be made next week. The proposed cuts amount to $3.35 million -- a significant chunk of the K-12 system's $125 million budget.

The good news is that some of the cuts probably won't have to take effect until fall of 2008. This means that some teachers may learn next week that they'll have a sure job for just one more year. In other words, their notices may be rescinded, only to return next year.

Underlying all the anxiety is a key factor: declining enrollment. With fewer and fewer students attending schools on the South Coast, the Santa Barbara school system gets less and less money, because the state allocates tax dollars to most districts based on student head counts.

The board still isn’t certain which cuts to make. But time is of the essence: The deadline for making them is Tuesday. On the list is a longstanding policy that keeps the average head count in all ninth-grade English and most ninth-grade math classes at 20 students. This policy exists because ninth-graders are considered vulnerable, due to their inexperience in the high school setting.

On Tuesday night, several parents and teachers pleaded with the board to keep the policy.

"It's one of the craziest things I can think of, to eliminate that," said Carol Pasternack, a UCSB professor and parent. "It makes a huge difference whether you're teaching 20 students or 35 students."

Tara Woodard shows off her bear. Photo by Edgar Oliveira/SBN

School board member Kate Parker lamented the low turnout at the meeting -- maybe a dozen people -- given the alarming list of potential reductions.

"I am really disappointed it's not standing-room only in here," she said. "One of the hits is junior high electives. That's band, foreign languages, art, woodshop -- the things kids really get out of school in terms of enjoyment."

On March 22, the teachers union ratified a raise that amounts to 9 percent over three years – 3 percent each year, starting this year, retroactively.

The raise means that by the 2007-08 school year, the salaries of entry-level teachers will increase from $40,250 to $42,700; and, the salaries of the highest paid teachers will increase from $72,160 to 76,555, according to Kristine Robertson, the district’s director of personnel. By 2008-09, the salary range will be from about $44,000 to $79,000.

Lindsay Woodard is a Goleta native. Her family just purchased a home off of Hollister Avenue. Photo by Edgar Oliveira/SBN

Perhaps knowing that the raise would require painful sacrifices that some teachers might not appreciate, the union this year decided to keep the election results secret.

“All we can say is it passed by at least 50 percent, plus one,” union President Linda Mitchell said. “It’s a way of keeping the union strong.”

This year’s salary talks between the district and the teachers union were especially brutal.

From summer to March, the district and the teachers were deadlocked, with teachers asking for 6.5 percent, and the district offering 1 percent.
 
Teachers crammed the room at several school board meetings, toting signs and yelling chants such as “No more insults!”  For two weeks in February, teachers stopped performing voluntary unpaid duties, such as mentoring after-school clubs or tutoring students at lunchtime. At one point, students at San Marcos High School even started picketing on behalf of their teachers.

District officials said they were hamstrung by the budget problems that come with chronic declining student enrollment – a trend widely attributed to exorbitant South Coast housing prices. Teachers countered that was no excuse, especially given how Gov. Schwarzenegger this year gave most California school districts a heap of cash -- including Santa Barbara.

Making the cuts is an excruciating task, given the lives affected by each line item. Take the Woodards, for example, who are affected by “Elimination of ninth-grade class-size reduction.”

The couple moved to the area from the Los Angeles area, where Bill and Lindsay Woodard met. (Both taught English at a high school in San Gabriel.) They started working in the Santa Barbara school district three years ago, which means they had tenure -- a reward teachers are granted after two years entitling them more job security.

For a while, they found a place in Buellton, but the commute was unbearable, especially with the arrival of their second daughter 16 months ago. With some help from Lindsay’s parents, they purchased a home in a semi-rural neighborhood near Hollister Avenue, on a winding road, where stars light up the night sky and the sound of crickets fills the air. 

“I mean, we taught our two years, got our permanent status, and moved here (in Goleta), only to find that we’re not so set after all,” Lindsay Woodard said.  

“It’s so demeaning when you know you do a good job, and yet the district sees you as a number. You’re expendable."