The Belmont-Redwood Shores School District plans to shutter all its libraries and take other drastic cost-savings measures as it seeks to slash millions of dollars from the budget to keep financially solvent.
“We’re at a loss at how we would replace that (library) service, because that’s a very important part of the students’ education,” said Maria Lang-Gavidia, principal at Cipriani Elementary. “It’s a really sad time for education.”
The district board recently approved a list of cuts totaling $2.5 million for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
The list includes closing the libraries, eliminating summer school, requiring workers to take six furlough days, increasing class sizes and eliminating the fourth- and fifth-grade music program, a district report said. The district still needs to negotiate many items on the list with employee groups.
Teachers will still be able to take students to school libraries, but the children will not be able to check out books, district board President Cathy Wright said.
And because the libraries will have no staff, Wright said, students who enjoy going there to read, play chess or do other quiet activities during recess will no longer be able to do so.
“We had to identify (cuts) because if we don’t balance the budget … then the state can take us over,” she said.
Chopping $2.5 million will help “ensure we have a balanced budget for this and two more subsequent years,” district Superintendent Emerita Orta-Camilleri said.
The furlough days will save the district $550,000, while the library closures will yield $220,000, according to the report.
Class sizes in kindergarten to third grade will increase from 20 to more than 25 students for a savings of $799,000, according to the report. The student-teacher ratio in grades six through eight will go from the current 28.5:1 to 30:1 for a $210,000 savings.
Much of the shortfall is a result of potentially giving back to the state $1.7 million in categorical funds in 2010-11 and again the following year, the district said.
Those projected payments are a response to the state’s request for basic-aid districts such as Belmont-Redwood Shores to make comparable “share-the-pain” budget reductions to what their revenue-limit counterparts have done.
Basic-aid districts are primarily funded by property tax revenue. Revenue-limit districts are mostly funded by the state based on their daily average student enrollment.
The Belmont-Redwood Shores board also approved sending preliminary layoff notices to about 30 certificated workers — including 25 teachers, the district report said.
So far, about 4,000 educators in the Bay Area have received pink slips, according to the California Teachers Association. Statewide, the tally is more than 21,000.
Districts have until Monday to issue notices to teachers informing them they could lose their jobs. Districts have until May 15 to finalize layoffs.
Neil Gonzales covers education. Contact him at 650-348-4338.
BY THE NUMBERS
$2.5 million “” amount of approved budget cuts for the 2010-11 fiscal year
$220,000 “” amount of savings from closing all school libraries
25 “” number of teachers receiving preliminary layoff notices