District Superintendent Ben Picard has presented the preliminary 2003­04 budget, which outlines cuts to programs and positions. "We're trying to prioritize the cuts in such a way as to keep them as far away from the classroom as possible," said Picard.

But Gina Tiscareno, president of the California School Employees Association, which represents classified employees, said the proposed cuts to school staff would adversely affect students. At the April 17 board meeting, Tiscareno presented the association's recommendations and asked the board to reconsider cutting classified staff.

If it passes in June, the budget will remove six bilingual aide positions as well as 12 other staff positions and reduce the work hours of eight other employees. Tiscareno said, "These are cuts directly to the classroom. They will affect numerous students and their families."

The district has taken the position that state cuts to basic aid will not be as drastic as those proposed by the governor. This position was developed from input received from state legislators, said Picard. And the district's proposed budget reflects this notion. If the cuts to basic aid are made, the board may have to consider midyear cuts in the coming year.

The district uses a process termed "curriculum-driven budgeting" in which an advisory board prioritizes school programs. The idea behind the process is that the school board can move down the list and fund items by priority, stopping only when there is no more funding left for the remaining programs.

Picard said he used the recommended prioritized list as much as possible when formulating the preliminary budget. "It's advisory only, so sometimes we have to make judgments that don't follow the process—for example, state-mandated programs," Picard said.

Though Picard and other staff members have met with the California School Employees Association to negotiate employment contracts for the classified positions, Tiscareno said the district has ignored the association's proposals.

Tiscareno said the association's proposals would have saved the district approximately $304,430 for the upcoming year.

"We are disappointed and saddened by the fact that our administration seems to not value the contributions classified employees bring to the educational setting," Tiscareno said.

But Linda Kilian, school board president, said the district is in a tough position. "Our job is to educate the students, and the only people who can do that are certificated teachers," Kilian said.

In March, the district issued 80 pink slips to its 332 certified teachers. The district is required to lay off teachers by formal notice by May 15, one day after the governor's revision to the state budget is released. Many of the board's decisions will be based on the May revision, said Kilian.

For the time being, the proposed layoffs to classified employees will remain in the budget, and Picard will present formal layoff notices to be approved by the board at the May 15 meeting.