Colusa avoids layoffs

Maintaining services in tough economic times is rough, especially when all eyes across the country are on public schools.

But while students and teachers in California inspire nationwide protests against budget cuts in education, Colusa schools are inspired not to let declining finances adversely touch the children.

"If we can get through this without students really noticing, then we are doing our jobs," said Larry Yeghoian, superintendent of Colusa Unified School District.

Although school districts throughout the state issued approximately 22,000 layoff notices by Monday — the annual legal deadline in California to let educators know their jobs are in jeopardy — teachers in Colusa didn't see pink.

"We've been looking at other strategies for several years now," Yeghoian said. "We don't like to lay off teachers."

Although the school district won't have a solid idea about its finances for the 2010-11 school year until legislators adopt the state budget this summer, Colusa Unified expects to reduce its budget another $500,000 — the same as it cut from the current year's budget.

"That is a $1 million reduction in two years," Yeghoian said.

Yeghoian came to the Colusa school district nine years ago, about the time California schools started tightening its belts in the face of rising costs.

For several years, he's advised the school board to offer administrators and teachers, nearing retirement age, incentives for giving up their posts early. In some cases, the retirement of teachers who have spent 15 to 20 years in the district saves the job of two others, school officials said.

"When teachers retired, we didn't replace them," Yeghoian said. "We would rather reduce by attrition, rather than layoff our teachers."

But the loss of teachers — for any reason — means larger classrooms sizes, something the district has implemented across the board at Colusa schools.

At Egling Middle School, class sizes for fourth through sixth grade averages 28 to 32 students, up from 26 to 30 when school budgets were higher. Upper grades are slightly smaller.

"It's a challenge," said Ed Conrado, Egling principal. "The more students you have in a class, the more issues the teacher have to deal with."

No one in the district, however, has not risen to the occasion, school officials said.

"Our teachers have handled it very well," Conrado said. "The important thing is that our students aren't missing out on their educational needs."

In addition to the personnel savings, Colusa schools have also been forced by declining finances to look at other areas to reduce spending, including cuts to some athletic programs, including shortening the athletic seasons and number of games, and reducing travel expenses.

The district has also cut the use of paper products in the face of skyrocketing timber industry costs, and implemented a districtwide copy service.

"We're trying to do as much as we can paperless," Conrado said. "It's really saved us a lot."

Although school districts throughout the state have been looking to parents and communities to shoulder more financial responsibility for school programs, school administrators hope to keep fundraising to a minimum.

"Everyone is hurting," Conrado said. "Not just the community but society as a whole. Colusa is an extremely generous community, but we don't want to keep asking. We want to limit fundraising to what is absolutely necessary."