Layoffs approved

GLENDALE — Facing significant state funding cuts, the Glendale Unified School District Board of Education voted Tuesday to eliminate 112 teaching positions, as class sizes increase to an average of 30 students in the fall.

Board members voted 4 to 1 to raise class sizes for kindergarten through third grade, from an average of 20 students to 30, triggering the layoffs because fewer teachers will be needed. Board member Nayiri Nahabedian cast the dissenting vote.

“I would challenge anyone to find the districts that aren’t doing this,” Supt. Michael Escalante said.

School districts have until March 15 to notify teachers they will be let go.

Increasing class size would likely put 60 to 80 teachers out of work once retirement, attrition and reassignments are finalized, said John Garcia, assistant superintendent for human resources.

School districts from Escondido to Elk Grove are laying off teachers and asking for pay cuts, furlough days and more, said Mary Boger, board president and vice president of the California School Boards Assn.

“We did save for this rainy day; we have been cutting this budget for seven years,” she said. “We have routinely and openly, and at this meeting again and again, asked the superintendent to keep those cuts away from the classroom. We simply can’t do that anymore.”

About 1,300 teachers work in Glendale Unified, and hundreds pushed back Tuesday, filling the board room and protesting along Wilson Avenue and Jackson Street with signs such as “Who’s being unreasonable?” Earlier in the day, teachers lined up outside Glendale High School holding up signs protesting the possible class-size increases.

“We are here today, members of the board, to ask you to send your negotiating team back to the table,” said Steve Field, treasurer for the Glendale Teachers Assn. “And accept our offer that meets the financial need of the district and spares our teachers further pain that may not be necessary in the future.”

Union President Tami Carlson said teachers had met the district’s request for $3.8 million in annual concessions without capping health benefits, which district officials favor.

Last month, the district declared an impasse in negotiations with the teachers union, setting off a series of procedural fact finding and mediation steps.