CORONADO, Calif. (KGTV) — While Coronado students head to school, the district is grappling with a $2.3 million deficit. To try to balance the budget, Coronado Unified has announced upcoming layoffs.
Coronado Unified is one of a handful of districts in the county to do so, including San Diego Unified and Grossmont Union High.
"Schools are having to make some tough decisions because of the bind they find themselves in," Troy Flint with California's School Board Association said.
Flint says this is happening across the state for much of the same reasons: a lack of COVID funding, a drop in state revenues, and declining enrollment.
"The overall funding picture for schools nationally and especially in California is worse than it's been in a long time," Flint said.
CUSD is a small district that includes these five schools. A spokesperson says that the district is laying off three clinical counselors, two program specialists, and one maintenance worker. The district is also cutting the hours for one Spanish teacher and one school counselor.
"When that money goes, those positions go, and so does the positive impact of people working in those positions on our students," Flint said.
Layoffs are coming in all at once because state law requires districts to notify impacted staff by March 15.
This is months before they know how much state funding they'll receive for the year. Flint said this often leads districts to send out more pink slips than necessary out of precaution.
"The state is seeing a huge deficit this year, so schools are hedging against that. They're expecting to see cutbacks to funding, so they are cutting staff," Flint said.
If schools have enough funding, they could rescind some pink slips later this year. Flint says this trend may continue for several years.
