Gilroy
– School board trustees made the first of what will likely be
ongoing and
”
painful
”
personnel cuts to slash a more than $600,000 budget
shortfall.
By eliminating a district administrative and a part-time
groundskeeping position Thursday, the district will save $118,000
per year
– but only $96,000 this school year because the administrative
position was filled through September.
Gilroy – School board trustees made the first of what will likely be ongoing and “painful” personnel cuts to slash a more than $600,000 budget shortfall.
By eliminating a district administrative and a part-time groundskeeping position Thursday, the district will save $118,000 per year – but only $96,000 this school year because the administrative position was filled through September.
Gilroy Unified School District officials plan to cut $1 million from this year’s budget to stave off a deficit that will reach $1.2 million by 2006.
“There’s no easy choices here,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said. “The next time we come up with a recommendation (to cut positions), it’s going to be more painful than these two recommendations.”
Thursday was the first round of personnel cuts this school year.
A “soft” hiring freeze is in effect, so as positions are vacated, the school board will vote on eliminating them. In the meantime, budget advisory team of various district and employee representatives meets weekly to find ways to save, and will have recommendations for the board in December.
Six trustees unanimously cut the district’s director of student assessment, which was vacated at the start of October, with Jim Rogers absent.
The decision to cut the part-time groundskeeper, however, was split 4-2, with John Gurich and Dave McRae protesting the loss to facilities.
After GUSD spent millions of dollars for new and upgraded facilities – most from voter-approved bond measures – over the past few years, McRae said, reducing groundskeeping for a $26,000 savings is not a priority.
“I just don’t support eliminating maintenance at this time,” he said.
The cut leaves GUSD with six full-time groundskeepers and means mowing, landscaping, and weeding will be less frequent, Jeff Gopp, manager of maintenance and operations, told trustees.
“The first thing that everyone sees, the first thing the public sees, is the grounds,” Gopp said. “We will suffer more and more as we bring on more sites.”
“We don’t have many choices,” Trustee Bob Kraemer said. “We could turn lights off and we could have no heat in the winter time, … it could come to that.”
The duties of the director of student assessment will be eliminated or reassigned to others, including assistant superintendents and other district administrators.
The district has an estimated 30 positions vacant, said Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Linda Piceno. Several of those are part-time aides. Others include four custodians, two occupational therapists, and one school secretary.
