CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
The school board president unveiled a surprise plan Tuesday to avoid teacher layoffs based on a compromise being pushed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Without advance notice, Monica Garcia proposed using more federal economic stimulus dollars right away to prevent the loss of teachers in the 2009-10 school year, which begins July 1. But in exchange, employee unions would have to match each dollar spent now with pay reductions that would apply to the next school year.
Because of a looming budget shortfall, as many as 3,500 non-tenured local teachers have received notice of possible layoffs, as have thousands of non-teaching employees. In addition, because of seniority rules, hundreds of more-senior employees who lose positions could bump out those at school sites in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
On that front, Supt. Ramon C. Cortines delivered a measure of good news. He predicted that no current principals would be let go because of adequate interest in an early retirement program.
-- Howard Blume
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