Coachella Valley Unified faces layoffs as federal pandemic-era relief funds come to an end

In recent weeks, Coachella Valley Unified School District issued — and rescinded some — reduction in force notices to educators due to the district’s decision to cut positions funded by expiring pandemic relief grants, known as ESSER.

School districts across the country have until Sept. 30 to obligate those remaining monies, and prepare for a future without that federal COVID relief.

Ending a pandemic-era program created a domino effect

When the board voted on March 7 to sunset the intervention program, it set in motion a layoff process affecting 71 educators — primarily at the elementary school level — whose positions were funded by the one-time COVID-relief funds.

According to a FAQ document provided by the district, CVUSD also identified a $17 million unrestricted budget deficit for the upcoming school year. Consequently, school districts across California are making plans in anticipation of the state legislature passing its budget in mid-June, as the projected cost-of-living adjustment for next year may not be enough to cover the loss of revenue from declining student enrollment.

More: Calif. budget deficit: Health care worker wage hike, student financial aid in crosshairs

Commonly referred to as a RIF, this action signifies the district’s permanent elimination of positions based on seniority, with some exceptions for educators in high-need roles — like transitional kindergarten, bilingual and dual language, as well as special education. Due to these exemptions, an additional 49 educators with less seniority were served layoff notices, bringing the total to 120.

“When you skip somebody with less (seniority), you have to (legally) notice them as well. When somebody is able to bump somebody off (of the seniority list), we have to include them,” said Maria McLeod, the district’s interim assistant superintendent of human resources. “It shouldn't be too much of a problem being able to skip them. But to cover ourselves, we have to notice them…  just in case (a judge) questions it or decides against us skipping them."

Because 40 educators accepted the district’s early retirement incentive offer (24 work at the elementary school level and 16 at the secondary school level), rescission notices were most recently sent to 16 teachers on March 22, effectively removing them from the list of those affected by the layoffs.

Educators can make a case for their position at an upcoming hearing

As part of the RIF process, the district notified the remaining 104 teachers on March 27 that they have the right to attend and participate in a hearing, scheduled for April 16 and presided by an administrative law judge, before receiving final layoff notices. If teachers submit a notice of participation, the district must arrange for substitute teachers.

The goal of the RIF hearings is to identify errors the district may have committed. McLeod and the district's assistant superintendent of business services will take the stand to explain why they are implementing the layoffs.

“If some people feel that they shouldn’t be skipped or if they feel they have a good cause — maybe there was a mistake on the seniority list or for any particular reason that they want to go — they can speak up about their position that’s being eliminated,” McLeod said.

The Coachella Valley Teachers Association will also have its own attorney from the California Teachers Association to represent all the teachers, alongside a designated representative from the teachers' union.

"If we believe there are any mistakes, then it's our attorney's responsibility to point out those mistakes," said Carissa Carrera, president of CVTA. "Sometimes, when there's a mistake, (the judge) will call the teacher up, swear them in and ask them questions."

The judge will ultimately make the ruling as to whether a teacher's RIF notice stands or is rescinded. The school board then has the right to make a final decision, but cannot make further reductions. Final notices, by law, must be issued by May 15.

Carrera questioned the skipping criteria. “(The district is) skipping (special education) teachers, but not all the (special education) teachers with low seniority got RIF notices,” Carrera said. Besides three art teachers and a counselor, she said, those special education teachers received a RIF notice because they also hold multiple subject credentials.

Those in ESSER-funded positions knew their job was temporary

McLeod acknowledged that the teachers whose roles were supported by the ESSER funds knew that their positions were temporary. She said it took a while to originally recruit these teachers for the intervention program, which was created approximately three years ago when CVUSD began receiving the COVID-relief funds.

"There was a learning loss, so we implemented the intervention coaches. This was just for three years, and then those funds were going away,” she said. “Some teachers didn't want to leave their classrooms because they knew that this was just temporary ... What we started to do is we started to hire temporary positions in elementary, but people don't want to work for a temporary contract, so it was really difficult.”

The decision to offer intervention teachers a probationary role was made, despite the clear temporary nature of these positions. “If the board had kept all those positions as temps, then nobody would have had to have received a RIF notice,” Carrera said.

Those who received RIF notices had chance to apply for new role

Foreseeing this outcome, McLeod said that the district’s newly created positions — 14 math coaches and five literacy coaches at the elementary school level, as well as seven MTSS coaches at the secondary level level — funded by the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant will address the gaps resulting from the sunsetting of the intervention program.

“We still need support at the school sites, and we feel that support is going to be better with our teachers to make sure that they have the best instruction for our students, so there's going to be an actual coach at every elementary school site,” McLeod said.

She added that teachers who received RIF notices were encouraged to pursue these opportunities. Interviews took place this week.

"With these additional 26 coaching positions, we're going to be able to transfer those intervention teachers hopefully," she said. "I've heard from a lot of interested teachers that they are applying, and then some of them just want to go back to the classroom. But there's going to be a movement, and it's going to be a positive movement."

It should be noted, however, that these funds, which are provided by the California Department of Education to establish learning recovery initiatives aimed at supporting academic learning recovery, are set to expire through the 2027-28 school year.

"There are a lot of people who are not applying for these coaching positions because they don't want the instability," Carrera said.

The hope is that additional retirements and attrition will mitigate the need and impact on the proposed layoffs. "We've asked (teachers) to be patient with the process. We are still being creative. People move, things happen," McLeod said, "so I'm very hopeful that we're going to be able to save a lot of our positions."

McLeod said district typically faces challenges in retaining teachers at West Shores High and Sea View Elementary schools in Salton City due to the long drive or for personal reasons unrelated to job dissatisfaction, leading them to choose employment in neighboring school districts at Desert Sands Unified or Palm Springs Unified.

More: Short an English teacher, West Shores High School in Salton City turns to remote ones

Sea View Elementary School has received 24 RIF notices, making it the school most affected by the layoffs. Mecca and Saul Martinez Elementary schools in Mecca each have 11 teachers impacted by the layoffs, followed by Oasis Elementary School in Thermal and Coral Mountain Academy in Coachella, both with nine affected teachers.

And that remains a concern for Carrera, who said the district often starts each school year with various vacancies. Halfway through this school year, for instance, CVUSD was actively seeking to fill 23 positions. "Even though we're RIFing all these people," she said, "I wouldn't be surprised if we start next (school) year with a bunch of vacancies again."

Jennifer Cortez covers education in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella Valley Unified faces layoffs as pandemic relief funds expire