While the district's temporary employees could still face the termination of their services in June, they've already received notifications, so there's less uncertainty. Margie Singleton, the district's director of human resources, said it's a precaution they would have taken anyway since those temporary positions represent staff members who have taken a leave of absence.

"We are very hopeful that we will be able to return all of them to the classroom," Singleton said. "But should the state decide that we would have to give them some money, the temporary positions would absorb the impact of any cuts we would have to make."

Last spring was a much different, much bleaker story. District officials faced a budget deficit, were unsure about incoming state funding and didn't know if they would receive basic aid money. Roughly one-third of the staff received notices that they might not be able to keep their jobs, said Martie Connor, president of the Saratoga Teacher's Association.

"It's so wonderful that we don't have to go through that again," Connor added. "At least we don't have that cliffhanger type of feeling that we could be pushed over the edge at any moment."

The district is one of about 65 basic aid districts in the state, which means most of its funding comes from local property taxes. And this year there's no proposal from the state to take away local property tax dollars from basic aid districts like there was last year.

Part of the reason layoff notices haven't gone out this year is because propositions 57 and 58 passed, Singleton said, so the district is less fearful the state will be taking money away.

"But we always know that is still out there as a possibility," she said.

The California Department of Education also released the second part of the 2003 Academic Performance Index base reports on March 9. The API was enacted by the Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999 and provides the baseline API scores and growth targets for schools within the state every year.

The API is a numeric score between 200 and 1,000. API indicators include performance on the Standardized Testing and Reporting program, the California achievement test survey and the California high school exit exam. The statewide goal is to have every school performing at a score of 800 or higher.

Santa Clara County's 2003 API was 761 compared to 703 statewide. One of the county's top-performing school districts was SUSD, with a score of 943.