Long Beach teacher cuts wipe out district control of Head Start

February 22, 2012: Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education, the third largest district in the state with 84,000 students, unanimously approved the layoff on Tuesday of 308 employees, as part of a series of budget reductions of $15-20 million by July 1, 2012.

According to the LBUSD website, "The 308 certificated jobs include the school district’s special and temporary contract teachers, as well as most of the teaching staff at the district’s Child Development Centers, and Head Start  programs that provide pre-K and other services.

The CDC cuts are a result of state cuts in funding for that program.  And while the local Head Start program and its employees have earned repeated state and national recognition for their exemplary work, the federally funded program is encroaching into the school district’s operating budget, which LBUSD can no longer afford, [LBUSD Superintendent Christopher J. Steinhausertold the school board]."

Reporting in the Long Beach Press Telegram, Kelly Puente writes:

Officials said the outcome of Head Start and the numbers of those laid off could change depending on the state budget, teacher retirements and other funding sources to be determined over the next few months. By law, however, the LBUSD is required to notify teachers of pending layoffs by March 15.

The board's vote effectively ends the LBUSD control of the Head Start Program, which serves 2,300 low-income children in 23 preschool centers in the district. The district claims the program is costing the district more than $200,000 a year.

Joe Boyd, executive director of the Teachers Association of Long Beach, urged the board to vote against the layoffs. Boyd said teachers in bargaining with the school district have already agreed to pay cuts and reductions in health benefits in exchange for a long-term commitment to keep Head Start.

Written for California's Children by Elizabeth J Carlyle.

Photo: L-R: Christian and Adrian Klenz, who attend Head Start, with home made signs opposing the cuts to the program at the board of education meeting on Tuesday. (Brittany Murray/ Press Telegram)

 

Comments

[gregory uba]

1. federal funding sources for head start have not dried up.
2. head start, federally funded as it is, would obviously not be related to state budget shortfalls.

[Wendy Lestina]

You are correct on the state/federal distinction. In rewording this piece to be more accurate, we quoted from the website of the LBUSD which says, "...the federally funded program is encroaching into the school district's operating budget, which LBUSD can no longer afford..." This statement would imply that although the basics of Head Start are federally funded, there are additional costs for services which are shouldered by those state-funded public school districts that have chosen to be the operative agency for local Head Starts.