FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The Fresno Unified School District board of trustees voted to cut more than 200 jobs districtwide. This comes amid a $77 million budget shortfall.
It was a very tense meeting as dozens of employees passionately spoke out against the district’s proposed job cuts, but the board ultimately decided to move forward with the proposal.
The job cuts include everything from teachers to custodians, bus drivers, and counselors.
“We have already found out that one of our NTAs, our Noon Time Assistants, is leaving us at the end of the year, just in my class alone. Two of my girls found out and came back from lunch so devastated. It took five minutes for them to stop crying,” says Chrysann Johnson, Second Grade Teacher.
Board chambers overflowed, creating a line down the street, with employees representing all three unions.
Copper Williams, a senior at Fresno High, is a foster student. He told Action News he was devastated when he learned his counselor was being laid off.
“I didn’t know my foster youth rights until she told me about them. She told me about multiple things. She’s helped me with my FAFSA. She’s helped me with so many things I wouldn’t have known about,” says Williams.
Preschool teachers are among the areas seeing the deepest cuts.
“Please consider this because I have a lot of friends that are losing jobs and have dedicated their years,” says Mary Milan, Preschool Teacher.
$77 million dollars in the hole, that is the deficit Fresno Unified has found itself in, with another $59 million projected for the next year.
Leaders say low student attendance and declining enrollment are to blame.
“None of this is easy for us and we are in an extraordinary time having to make a very hard decision,” says Viva Islas, Board President.
Leaders claim that since the 2023-24 school year, they’ve cut $3.5 million dollars in district office leadership, with an additional $9 million proposed for the next school year.
“How close is the district getting to the state oversight percentage?” we asked.
“That’s an excellent question. If we were not to make any reductions this year, we would be in that status within two years,” says Patrick Jensen, Fresno Unified Chief Financial Officer.
But the teachers’ union argues that the district is being misleading and is not doing everything in its power to avoid these cuts.
“Unconscionable, when we think $179 million reserve level, that’s five times the state minimum we can do better as a district,” says Manuel Bonilla, Fresno Teachers Association President.
Now, the district says this is yet another procedural step to continue issuing layoff notices, but official layoffs will not occur until May.
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