LAUSD Board Considers Early Retirement to Save Jobs

The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education will consider Tuesday an early retirement program for non-teaching employees as part of an effort to save jobs and delay layoff notices for thousands of workers.

If the board backs the proposal, the issuance of layoff notices for classified employees would be delayed from Friday until June 18.

The proposal, hammered out by the district and officials of SEIU Local 99, which represents many of the classified workers, would affect about 2,500 workers and is similar to the early retirement incentive package already offered to teachers and principals. Nearly 1,400 teachers, principals and administrators have taken the early retirement package, according to the district.

"From the main office to the cafeteria, school staffs outside the classroom have been hard hit by this budget," school board president Monica Garcia said. "Offering them early retirement to save jobs is the right thing to do. Every librarian or janitor who retires early will save another's job."

Under the early retirement proposal, workers who have been with the district for five years would receive 40 percent of next year's salary over the next five years.   

The district's Board of Education voted April 14 to eliminate nearly 5,400 positions in hopes of closing a deficit of nearly $600 million in the budget for the coming school year. The exact number of layoffs was expected to be lower, depending on the number of employees opting for early retirement and the use of state and federal stimulus funds to maintain jobs.

"The early retirement program is a positive step toward reducing layoffs and the impact that job loss would have on essential student services," said Blanca Gallegos of SEIU Local 99. "We hope to continue to work cooperatively to review all options that will prevent these devastating cuts to our schools and communities."

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines said classified workers are "critical to the operations of our schools."

"Often the first employee a child sees is a bus driver," he said. "Our buildings and grounds workers keep schools clean, and office staff workers help parents and members of the public."