By Connie Llanos,Staff Writer | L.A. Daily News
05/25/2010 09:27:18 PM PDT -- The Los Angeles Unified school board Tuesday unanimously approved rescinding 522 layoff notices for elementary school teachers.
The move drops the number of overall expected layoffs next year to about 1,000 - down from the initial decision earlier this year to send layoff notices to nearly 3,100 teachers, administrators, nurses, librarians and counselors.
The number could be further reduced as officials continue to look for additional funding sources and savings.
To date the district has rescinded pink slips for 1,802 elementary school teachers, 85 counselors and 56 nurses. It has also saved the jobs of 63 permanent librarians and expects additional savings from individual schools that are allowed to "buy back" teacher positions through shifts in their own budgets.
Most jobs have been saved as a result of a deal reached with the local teachers union, which agreed to taking 12 furlough days over the next two years to save the jobs of pink- slipped colleagues.
That agreement also cut the school calendar by a week this year and next.
While teachers union officials celebrated saving jobs, they also urged the district to try to rescind more notices.
Over the last few weeks union officials said there has been a discussion with the district over exactly how many positions should be saved based on the furlough agreement.
Union officials said they are still waiting for about 200 more teaching positions to be saved, based on their agreement with the district.
District officials, however, say the remaining positions will have to be re-purchased by schools after they finish their local budgets, which allow them to buy back teaching and other staff positions.
"We are pleased that the district finally did rescissions for over 500 teachers," said A.J. Duffy, president of United Teachers Los Angeles.
"But there is still some disagreement about the number of teachers and health and human service professionals that remain that still need to be rescinded either from the original agreement and or through purchases made at the local school site."
The district and the union also seem to disagree on the total number of teachers, counselors and other school support personnel that are set to lose their jobs on July 1.
District officials estimate that 1,008 layoff notices will become permanent in July while the union expects that figure to be closer to 844.
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