Fewer teachers, zero instructional aides, bigger class sizes, and possible “combo classes” — combining students from different grade levels in a single classroom — will likely become the new normal at Hope School District until it can solve financial woes so dire it’s “facing a significant risk of insolvency,” according to the Santa Barbara Department of Education.
Before a crowded auditorium of parents and teachers Monday night, Superintendent Anne Hubbard said, “We are nowhere near out of this situation; we continue to watch every penny,” before choking up and urging her Board of Trustees to approve laying off six full-time teachers and three part-time reading specialists. “These are incredible people I care deeply about,” she said. The anticipated savings in salary and benefits is roughly $700,000.
The layoffs, which will take place before the start of the 2017-18 school year, add to cuts made late last year, when three intervention teachers, 19 instructional aides, three librarians, and two health clerks were given notice. Those jobs, however, were saved through the end of this school year by a $255,000 donation raised by the district’s Educational Foundation, run by parent volunteers.