Superintendent Garcia: Layoff hearings underway as district seeks rainy‑day funds

Superintendent Garcia told the San Francisco Board of Education that layoff hearings were taking place this week amid a state budget crunch, and district leaders were negotiating with the city controller’s office to secure rainy‑day funds that she said could be used to protect jobs.

Garcia, speaking during the superintendent’s report, said on a “bad note for this evening” the district was “holding layoff hearings this week … for 4 25 of our colleagues who have received layoff notices because of the budget crunch here in the state of California.” She said the district had met with the controller’s office and was trying to agree on which numbers should be used to determine rainy‑day eligibility and distribution.

The superintendent said the City and County had “a little over $30,000,000 that are available,” and that district leaders hoped to qualify for as much of those funds as possible to reduce layoffs and retain staff. “We'd like to get as much as that that we could qualify for as possible so that we could as quickly as possible get our people feeling part of the team,” she said, adding the goal of rehiring and bringing stability ahead of the next school year.

Procedural action at the start of the meeting included the board’s approval of Item A, the board minutes. A motion and a second were recorded on the agenda and the clerk announced the result as "7 ayes." The meeting record does not supply mover or seconder names for the motion to approve the minutes.

What happens next: Garcia said the district would continue negotiations with the controller’s office and would keep the public informed on those efforts and on the status of personnel matters. The meeting proceeded to a recognition of the Adventures in Music program.