SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Hundreds of teachers, parents, and students at San Diego Unified held a rally Tuesday to protest the district's plan to lay off hundreds of teachers and staff.
Teachers who got pink slips held pink pieces of paper with the number of students they work with. Some marched from their school site to district headquarters, asking the district to cut elsewhere.
Corey Wallace is one of the teachers who received a pink slip. Wallace is a third-grade teacher at E B Scripps Elementary in Scripps Ranch.
He's the father of a five-month-old baby. He and his wife had just signed a lease on a new place when he got his pink slip.
The district says the cuts are necessary as a result of the end to COVID-19 funds, declining enrollment, and decreased state revenue projections. It's trying to close a 94-million-dollar budget gap.
When reached for comment, the district sent ABC 10News the following statement:
“As a district, we are committed to balancing our budget without significant impacts to students and school sites. Over the last year, our team has worked to thoughtfully and strategically build a budget that considers the needs of our children first and foremost. Our current staffing projections and potential staff reductions are the result of a combination of the loss of nearly $540 million in COVID relief funds, declining enrollment, and decreased state revenue projections. We are grateful for our hardworking and committed San Diego Unified team and know that having to lay off even one employee is extremely significant. While we have given layoff notices to hundreds of employees, we are maximizing attrition and available reserves to minimize layoffs, and we are hopeful we can continue to reduce the actual number of employees affected before May 15 when reductions are to be finalized.”
