OXNARD : School District to Eliminate 22 Jobs

Sixteen teaching positions and six non-teaching jobs will be eliminated from the Oxnard Union High School District next year due to an anticipated $820,142 funding reduction, the school board has decided.

Rather than laying off employees, the district will cut positions primarily by not filling vacancies created when people quit or retired this year, Assistant Supt. Bob Brown said.

In addition, the district will not renew the contracts of about five temporary teachers. The district will also cut five maintenance worker jobs and one groundskeeper position.

Despite the teaching staff cutback, the district’s average class size will not change, Brown said. The district had too many teachers in 1993-94, he said, because it overestimated student enrollment.

“We were really somewhat overstaffed,” he said.

The district projects that its budget will drop from $53.7 million this year to $52.9 million next year in part because state funding will decrease to reflect the smaller number of students expected.

Last year, the district projected an enrollment of 12,269 students at its five high schools and one continuation school. But the year ended with only 11,565 students.

District officials believe, Brown said, that families are moving out of the Oxnard area to find jobs.

In addition to the expected $180,000 drop in state funding, the district is projecting federal funding to decline by $358,610 to $2.7 million, primarily from the migrant education budget.