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The Fresno Unified School District remains committed to saving as many jobs as possible, while protecting its investment in the classroom. Because of the prudent and fiscally responsible efforts of the FUSD Board of Education, the District is in a better position than most. Given the current information – which may still change with the Governor’s May Revised Budget – the District will not recommend laying off permanent employees, including teachers; increasing class sizes; nor recommending salary rollbacks – as many other school districts in California are doing.
Last Spring, to prepare for 2008-09, FUSD made reductions of nearly $7.5 million in the central office while increasing the investments in instructional supplies for teachers and library materials by more than $1.1 million. The central office reductions along with other actions taken, resulted in keeping budget cuts as far from the school site as possible for the current school year.
This school year – given the magnitude of the situation – the District cannot avoid making some reductions at school sites, while also making reductions once again in central office. However, even more than last year, the focus during this budget development process for 2009-2010 is on the board-adopted goals and Core Beliefs and Commitments, while minimizing the impact on permanent employees and the classroom.
The District remains committed to preserving the significant academic progress of FUSD students over the past three years by protecting the investment in the classroom, and will continue to take responsible and strategic action to protect the District’s mission to prepare career ready graduates. This includes work around the partnership with the College Board to prepare our students for success in higher education, the Career Technical Education Commission’s work to prepare our students for workplace success, equity and access work to ensure that all students have access to the resources they need and to high-quality options after high school, and the work of the English Learner Task Force to ensure that our 20,000 English Learners accelerate their proficiency.
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