Roughly 450 Poway Unified employees crammed a special board meeting Monday night to hear about proposed 7.5-percent pay cuts to help shore up a $24 million gap in the 2010-11 budget.

Teachers wore black T-shirts that said, “Excellence Costs” on the front, and “Not on the Backs of Teachers” on the back.

That sentiment was reflective of their opinions expressed during the school board meeting about the cuts.

“We were going to bring tombstones,” said French teacher Carol Landale, a 24-year veteran who has taught at Twin Peaks Middle School and currently teaches at Mt. Carmel High School. She could be “pink-slipped” March 15, when the district hands out the preliminary round of layoff notices to teachers, she said.

Monday’s standing-room-only crowd, which included some parents, listened to the proposals, the first in the steps to negotiating contracts with three bargaining units.
Their consensus was that the district should re-examine where the cuts can be made, even if it means eliminating programs, possibly athletics and other activities — to save jobs.

“This is the beginning, not the conclusion of the negotiation process as required by state law,” said Associate Superintendent Bill Chiment. “We hope to meet soon with each of the unions to negotiate.”

Those unions represent about 1,500 members of the Poway Federation of Teachers, 1,200 members of the California School Employees Association and 450 Service Employees International Union members.

A fourth group, about 200 managers and administrators, are members of the Association of Poway School Managers.

During the meeting at Morning Creek  Elementary School, one parent said that the district “mismanaged” money when it recently purchased a new $9 million office building in Carmel Mountain Ranch, when it should have used its resources to remedy the budget gap. She received a huge round of applause from teaching and non-teaching employees, as well as parents.

Funds used for the purchase of that facility came from developer fees, money that can only be used for such purchases, not for salaries, said Deputy Superintendent John Collins.

 He said that the district is proposing 7.5 percent pay cuts for all employees with a corresponding reduction of 10 fewer work days. The number of days students will attend classes will be decreased by five, and teachers will have five fewer professional growth days.

Class sizes will also be increased, he said. Together with the fewer classroom days, the district would save about $5 million, Collins said.

If teachers and non-teachers decide to accept the salary reductions for two years, the district will save $19 million.

Much of the district’s budget deficit stems from fewer dollars coming from the state and federal governments. Roughly $8 million in non-renewable federal stimulus money was used to help balance the current budget, Collins added.

“The state’s budget (that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing for the upcoming year) is built on a house of cards,” Collins said,  because it is built on federal money that is not coming.

PFT Director Candy Smiley said that adding more students to classes will further burden teachers already coping with little or no money to spend on class supplies and increased responsibilities because of fewer support personnel.

“Teachers are paying for classroom supplies (out of their pockets), working more and earning less,” Smiley said.

Last year, teachers agreed to a 2.7 percent pay cut for two years, while CSEA and APSM members agreed to a one-time 2.7 percent pay cut.

That would mean, if the proposed pay cut passes, that teachers would have an additional 4.8 percent pay cut added into the 2.7 percent they agreed to for 2010-11.

SEIU members voted against the reduction in salary last year, but president Chuck Lord said Monday, “We’re here to work with you in any way we can.

“I represent all the people who take out the trash, bring in the lunches and take care of the grounds,” he said.

Meanwhile CSEA president Dianne Kodadek said that union members backed last year’s pay cut because it meant saving jobs of colleagues.”

“I’m not as excited this time,” she said. “We’re just in shock with this proposal.
“We’re going to want to see real data (about the budget),” Kodadek said. “Every year for all those years (of budget cuts), a lot hasn’t come back.”

Collins’ selection as the district’s new superintendent was announced last month, but officially approved by district trustees Monday night. Superintendent Don Phillips retires on June 30, while Collins begins his new duties July 1.