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I hope that things do not turn out so that they have to lay anybody off. I sub as a custodian for Rim and recieved a letter the other day that I do not have reasonable assurance of returning as a sub for the next school year.

From a spectator point of view, I have seen plans implemented in other districts which could mitigate the effects of any budget trimming. I am not saying that this is possible at ROTWUSD, but may be worth considering:

1) All higher-end paid employees can agree to forego their periodic pay increases.
2) All employees can agree to forego periodic pay increases.
3) All part-time staff related tasks can be divided among district employees thereby eliminating the pay required for the part time employees. This will undoubtedly affect the part time employees, so should be evenly weighed. Volunteers can fill some gaps.
4) Grant-Writing in the district could be given a new look with more effort (not saying anything negative about current attempts since I don't know) so that the district could have specially earmarked funds...I'm sure this can be used to offset costs/budget cuts.

Sorry to anyone out there facing the prospects of losing a job. The Boy Scout Motto can be appropriately quoted here: "Be Prepared". Don't wait to be told you are slated to lose your job! IF anyone is interested, I am very good with writing and/or editing resumes, and can help with yours if you'd like.

Last year the governor told the people that 2008 would be the "year of education" for California. What happened? I guess he meant the year that we decide that educating our children isn't important. California is already ranked almost last in the country for per student funding! If the proposed budget cuts go through, we will surely be last.

Most districts have already eliminated class size reduction in at least one grade level in order to pay for an 11 percent reduction in funds. This means 30-35 kids in third, second, and first grades! Kindergarten would actually be second to go by law.And we already rank 48th in the number of K-12 students per teacher at 19.1 compared to 14.7 for the nation as a whole.

The worst part is, California has the SEVENTH LARGEST ECONOMY IN THE WORLD!It's too bad that will change when California companies are unable to find qualified workers locally.

As far as preparing a resume, good luck finding a teaching job in California. Over 10,000 teachers statewide received a pink slip.

Sad.