Dramatic cuts and widespread layoffs could be coming to Paradise schools.
Officials say an announcement about major layoffs and deep cuts in the Paradise Unified School District could be just weeks away.
How bad it will be is anyone’s guess.
Last night, math teacher David Smith, who also serves as President of the Teacher’s Association of Paradise, the local union, acknowledged the news and told the district’s Board of Trustees at their meeting that employees deserve transparency.
“We recognize that our budget will be dropping to roughly 50 percent of our pre-fire budget in August of 2021, thus we recommend the creation of a very detailed cut-down list for 2021/2022’s budget based on the current projections.” Smith said.
The district is in a tough spot. Public schools in California are funded in part via property taxes, along with a formula based on the number of students attending classes.
Sheila Craft, executive assistant to Superintendent Tom Taylor said 1,722 students are currently enrolled in the district, 49 percent fewer than before the fire.
With the vast majority of homes destroyed, and so many residents living elsewhere, PUSD faces a double financial whammy.
State officials extended a lifeline by guaranteeing pre-fire funding levels and district representatives have been trying to extract an extension, something that was granted in Santa Rosa following devastating fires there.
Smith said district employees must be in the loop.
“This list should be shared as soon as possible, so that people have time to act accordingly,” he said, reading a hand-written draft from a sheet of paper. Smith said.
Craft said three of the districts’ schools were utterly destroyed and a fourth, heavily damaged. She said the district plans to hold insurance money it received from the fire in reserve, and use it to rebuild facilities once needed.