Head of Oxnard Schools Recommends 60 Layoffs

Oxnard School District needs to lay off 17 teachers, six administrators, a staff psychologist and 36 other employees to make up for a projected $2.75-million budget deficit, Supt. Norman Brekke told school board members Wednesday night.

The district would also have to close Ramona Elementary School a year before Ritchen School is completed in 1992, according to a budget advisory committee report presented to the board.

The board had not voted on the recommendations as of late Wednesday night.

Under state law, any layoff notices must be sent to teachers by March 15, said Kent Patterson, assistant superintendent for personnel.

“It is a recommendation that is very painful, without damaging programs and the quality of the school district,” Brekke said. “We are trying to survive without going bankrupt, as some school districts in this state have.”

Schools countywide are girding for cuts because Gov. Pete Wilson has proposed suspending Proposition 98, which earmarks millions of dollars for education.

Passed in 1988, Proposition 98 guarantees at least 40% of the state general fund to public schools and community colleges. Suspension would require a two-thirds vote by both houses of the Legislature.

Also, state lottery funds for education have decreased and the county is billing districts for property tax collection.

“This is not a happy list,” Brekke told the school board. “This is a list that will allow us to survive throughout the 1991 school year.”