Riverside to keep paying laid-off teachers
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Riverside Unified School District laid off about 90 permanent teachers, and they will still cost the district $3.86 million extra for substitute pay next year, Deputy Superintendent Mike Fine said.
The school board unanimously adopted an initial budget for 2010-11 of $312.7 million late Monday night, incorporating previously discussed cuts and using $19.2 million from reserve funds.
State law gives laid-off tenured teachers first priority for substitute positions. If they work more than 21 days out of 60, they are entitled to the same daily rate they earned under their previous contracts, an average of $337 for these teachers, Fine said. Other substitutes are paid $100 a day, he said. The district usually spends about $2 million a year for substitute teachers, a sum also included in the 2010-11 budget, he said.
Next year will be the first time the district has to pay laid-off teachers their daily rate, Fine said. Last year, the district used federal stimulus funds to bring back all but 13 laid-off teachers and none of the 13 had tenure, he said. The district cut about 130 teachers -- including probationary teachers in their first year or two with the district, Fine said.
The laid-off teachers won't receive benefits, such as health insurance, Fine said.
He said the 90 teachers would make up about half the district's average daily substitutes so they will work as much as they want.
The spending plan adopted will change once the state passes a budget, Fine said. It was based on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's May budget revision proposal, which district officials predicted Democratic lawmakers won't accept in Sacramento.
Fine said many of the details in an agreement with the Riverside City Teachers