Teachers Confront an Uncertain Future

Irvine’s tax election provided a lesson in fractions Wednesday, as teachers struggled in the classroom to explain why 120 of them will have to leave their jobs.

At Springbrook Elementary School, Kathy Calkins’ third-grade class asked her to draw them a picture of what the two-thirds majority required for passage of the measure looks like.

“This was hard for them to understand,” Calkins said. “When we vote on things in our own classroom, like which game to play for P.E., the majority rules.”

Though a majority of Irvine residents did favor a $95-per-parcel tax to help the school district cover a $4-million budget shortfall, the measure fell more than 2 percentage points shy of the 66.7% necessary for passage in Tuesday’s election.

Most of Irvine’s teachers will have little trouble finding other work, though it might mean uprooting their families or making a longer commute.

Other instructor-hungry school districts, including Orange and Santa Ana, which have trouble attracting credentialed teachers, are eager to add to their applicant pools.

“What might be Irvine’s loss will be a gain for many school districts in the county,” said Santa Ana school board President John Palacio. “We would welcome them with open arms.”

In the Orange Unified School District, 300 new teachers are needed for the fall, a spokeswoman said. “We’re sorry about Irvine’s loss, but we certainly welcome teachers who are being laid off over there to apply here,” said Judith Frutig.

Despite a wide-open job market, many Irvine teachers might have to take cuts in salaries or benefits upon moving to other districts, because seniority accumulated in one district generally does not carry over to new districts.

Springbrook’s Kathy Covington, who has 22 years of teaching experience, said she could lose as much as $7,000 a year in salary if she changes districts. But as a newcomer to Irvine, where she has taught kindergarten and first grade for two years, her job is on the line and she must begin filling out applications.

“We have next week off [for spring break], and that’s what I’ll be doing,” Covington said. “I’ve got applications from other districts and letters of recommendation from the principal.”

The possibility of pay cuts in new jobs irks Irvine teachers, who said they feel as if they’ve become bargain-basement finds for other districts. “All of a sudden, we became Kmart ‘blue-light specials,’ ” said Jennifer Johnson, a third-grade teacher at Springbrook.

Teachers throughout the district struggled to carry on as usual Wednesday, hiding their emotions from students and, for those who have received layoff notices, offering matter-of-fact explanations for why they might not be at the same school next year.

“People are really down,” said Culverdale Elementary School Principal Tom Perrie. “It’s like somebody died, literally.”

Some teachers accepted or gave more serious thought to job offers from neighboring school districts. Others made plans to update their resumes and fill out job applications.

Even teachers whose jobs are not on the line had to reassess their positions. They wondered whether they might be happier in a school district where they won’t have to handle the fallout from a budget crisis. “If a great district like this is going to lose its ability to be as good as it used to be, many really talented people who don’t have to leave will leave,” Perrie said.

With the budget cuts, Springbrook and other Irvine schools might not be able to carry on with the statewide initiative to limit class size to 20 for kindergarten through third grade.

Time for one-on-one interaction between teacher and student would drop as a result, said Calkins, who is the only one of four Springbrook third-grade teachers not to receive a layoff notice.

“You won’t be able to actually give [students] feedback,” Calkins said. “That’s very frustrating to us.”