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OXNARD : Employees Picket Educators’ Meeting

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About 70 employees of Oxnard’s Rio Elementary School District picketed a board meeting this week to protest proposed cuts of about $500,000 from the district’s budget.

District officials have proposed the cuts to offset a projected shortfall in state funds to public schools next school year. But employees in Rio’s 129-member classified employees union protested Wednesday because the cuts could reduce working hours for secretaries, janitors and others and could limit medical benefits.

The 2,600-student district has five schools and an annual budget of about $10 million.

Jeanne Foster, spokeswoman for the classified workers’ union, said members hope that the district can find a way to maintain their working hours. “If it appears they’re not listening, we’ll do it again.”

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The board is scheduled to vote on tentative cuts next week, Supt. Peter Rogalsky said. A final budget vote is scheduled in July.

If the cuts are approved, classrooms would not be cleaned and swept as often, district-subsidized field trips could be reduced, and supplies such as paper and pencils could be reduced.

The proposed cuts also include the elimination of a special program for troubled students at Rio Del Valley Junior High School, at an estimated savings of $36,000. A reduction in hours for school psychologists also has been proposed to save about $20,000, Rogalsky said.

Unlike other Ventura County districts, El Rio does not plan any cuts in teaching staff.

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