Temecula Valley Unified Uses Caution in Restoring Furlough Days

When students of the Temecula Valley Unified School District return Tuesday, Jan. 8 from winter break, staff and teachers will be more prepared.

The district and both labor groups negotiated recently to restore a normal work schedule for Monday, Jan. 7. The day had been set aside as a staff development and prep day before teachers and classified employees agreed to give it up as a non-paid, budget-reduction day.

The recent negotiations followed the November passage of Proposition 30. The voter-approved tax increases are expected to prevent further cuts this fiscal year and generate an estimated $6 billion annually for the state’s public education fund.

Temecula teachers had agreed to take 10 furlough days this school year, while support workers agreed to take six. Aug. 13-14 and Sept. 21 were already observed as non-student and non-staff budget-reduction days this school year. Further budget-reduction days scheduled for the current school year include the week of June 3-7 and Monday, June 10.

Restoration of furlough days—should the budget outlook improve—was built in to labor agreements with both groups.

At the Dec. 11 school boarding meeting, trustees approved Jan. 7 as a restored staff development and prep day for teachers. Two work days were restored for support workers—one being Jan. 7 and the other according to the respective employees’ work-year calendar.

Further restoration will be dependent on the fiscal outlook when the governor’s budget proposal is released in January, according to a letter signed by Temecula Valley Unified Superintendent Tim Ritter and Temecula Valley Educators Association President Chris Lindberg.

“This is because the last thing any of us want is to reinstate the days and then have to request them back should budget information in January be dismal,” Ritter and Lindberg wrote.