Uncertain School Districts Issue Pay Cut Warnings : Education: Letters are mailed to employees of the Ventura and Hueneme agencies. The state budget crisis is cited.

At least two school districts in Ventura County have sent letters to employees this week warning them of possible pay cuts and layoffs because of increased operating costs and the uncertainty of state financing.

The Ventura Unified School District sent a letter to its employees Monday alerting them about a possible 8.5% salary cut or benefits adjustment, while the Hueneme School District has notified its employees of a potential salary freeze or reduction.

The Ventura school district also sent a notice to 80 administrators and counselors warning them that they may be reassigned or terminated.

“If the state follows through with its cuts, this is what’s going to happen,” said Terence Kilbride, president of the Ventura school board. “This is not an idle letter-writing campaign.”

Gerald Dannenberg, the district’s acting personnel director, said spiraling health-care costs will, at the very least, force some type of pay cut or change in the district’s benefits plan regardless of whether the Legislature slashes education spending.

The Legislature has proposed cutting $1 billion or more from education to help offset an $11-billion state deficit.

If lawmakers adopt this proposal, Dannenberg said, it would mean deeper cuts in programs and possible layoffs for the school district.

The district has already approved $2.3 million in cuts to balance its $57.3-million budget for the new fiscal year, which began Wednesday. The cuts resulted in the elimination of 23 teaching positions and an increase in class size at the elementary level from 30 to 33 students.

“Whatever the state does could be a double whammy,” Dannenberg said.

Hueneme schools officials sent letters to the district’s employees last week warning of a salary freeze or cut if the Legislature reduces education spending. The letter did not specify how much of a pay cut they may face.

“It was prudent that we notify teachers in the event that we are cut,” said board member Elaine Garber. “Let’s just hope that nothing serious happens.”

Garber said the district has already had to reach into its reserves to cover a $500,000 shortfall in its $28-million budget this year.

John L. Gennaro, president of the Ventura Unified Educators Assn., said teachers understood that the district was legally obliged to notify employees of possible pay cuts before the end of the fiscal year to keep its options open.

“The key word is ‘possible,’ ” Gennaro said of the potential pay cuts and layoffs. “Nothing is in stone.”

Dannenberg said the Ventura school district is being financially drained by its retiree benefits program. This year alone the district will spend $15 million on health benefits for employees, with $3 million of that going to more than 700 retirees. Ventura is the only district in the county that provides lifetime benefits to retirees.

Dannenberg said the proposed 8.5% salary cut would essentially cover the costs of the retiree benefits package next year. But he warned that the district cannot continue to fund the program in the future.

“If we can’t find a way to fund it, we’re going to have to modify it or stop the program,” Dannenberg said.

The Ventura district is negotiating with teachers and support staff on new contracts. The current contracts expired Tuesday.

“The unions are acting very responsibly,” Dannenberg said. “They recognize we collectively have a problem.”

Gennaro agreed that the retiree benefits program will have to be changed or restructured. But he said he did not think it would be eliminated altogether.

Ventura teachers have not had a raise in pay for three years. The average salary stands at $36,838; an 8.5% cut would amount to a loss of about $3,000.

Yet Gennaro said the loss of pay is not as tragic as the impact that the cuts would have on all of California’s students. “I think what California is doing to education and its children is a sad state of affairs,” Gennaro said. “I know we have a huge financial problem, but we’re killing our future.”