MBUSD should prioritize keeping teachers, staff due to impact on Costa environment

By Mia Cho

Opinion Editor

Due to the current budget crisis facing the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, there is a dire need for the district to find additional revenue sources as well as make several reductions for the 2020-21 school year. In an effort to recover from this crisis, MBUSD is eliminating positions districtwide. However, MBUSD should minimize the amount of teachers layoffs because they play an important role in students’ experience at Costa. 

According  to MBUSD, the district receives $130 of Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) revenue per student. LCFF revenue is provided for all local education agencies by the state. However, according to calculations done by MBUSD listed on the Feb. 26 Board meeting agenda, expenses for the 2020-21 school year are already at $371 per student, excluding salaries for paid positions district-wide and for special education programs.

In response to this lack of funding, MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Mike Matthews presented a series of program reductions that will go into effect at the start of the 2020-21 school year.  Amendments to these suggested reductions were accepted on Feb. 26. MBUSD measured these cuts in funding with Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs), which calculates the workload of an employed person. 

Amendments to Matthews’ plan includes reducing elementary PE by 1.9 FTE; library resourcing specialists by 2.8 FTE; counseling departments by 1.5 FTE; science specialists by 1.7 FTE; and zero period in sixth grade by 0.167 FTE. In total, for the 2020-2021 school year, the final reduction savings total to $3,627,304.

MBUSD also plans to eliminate positions districtwide, including teachers. According to MBUSD’s Board meeting highlights from Feb. 26, 2020, 7.8 teachers teaching grades 6-12 are going to be laid off to save $775,125 during the 2020-21 school year. The district is required to provide overnotice in the form of pink slips to teachers and staff who could potentially get laid off by March 15, 2020. 

Additionally, teachers are the adults who all students on campus have contact with on a daily basis, emphasizing their importance on the academic, social, and emotional aspects of students’ lives. For many students, teachers are trusted adults on campus that they can reach out to for advice. Laying off these same teachers who have had profound influence on students’ lives can negatively impact students’ experiences at Costa. These adults are important figures in such a crucial time in a students’ development as a person, and they should not be overlooked.

Rather than eliminating all of these teachers, the board should instead eliminate zero period at both Manhattan Beach Middle School and Costa. At the Jan. 15 MBUSD Budget Workshop, the Board discussed the elimination of zero period of MBMS and MCHS, estimating that this would lead to about $600,000 in reductions. If these estimated reductions were made, this would lead to fewer teachers from Costa having to be laid  off. Because teachers are so essential to student success and their experience on campus, they should be priortized over students’ abilities to take more classes. 

Before cutting teachers who are at the core of students’ education, MBUSD should consider the impacts it can have on Costa, and instead cut zero period for all grade levels in MBUSD that it is offered.