Unruly News & Updates

Friday, February 4, 2005

Zendejas' Supply Budget Cuts and the Herrera Money Settlement: An Unruly Observation

Last year, the ESUHSD Board of Trustees, on the advice of Dr. Zendejas, claimed they would have to suspend class size limits due to “extraordinary circumstances.” This ambiguous phrase buried within the Collective Bargaining Agreement became the center of a grievance controversy that the district readily lost. Realizing they had made an egregious error, the Board arbitrated a settlement with ESTA. Part of that agreement stipulated that every teacher would receive $50.00 of what has come to be known as “Herrera Money”, a small stipend historically given to teachers by the Board of Trustees to combat the growing problem of teachers using personal money for classroom expenditures.

A recent move by Dr. Zendejas and the Board of Trustees raises questions about the intent to honor that settlement.

In November, Dr. Zendejas filed a negative interim report with the County. After two months of budget meetings and analysis, Board President J. Manuel Herrera and Trustee Craig Mann asked Dr. Zendejas to develop a list of proposed budget reductions. In spite of numerous pleas and presentations to the Trustees, including one by ESTA that could eliminate the current debt without a loss of jobs, a divided 3-2 Board voted to enact Zendejas’ budget recommendations in January.

One week after the Board passed the measure Zendejas reduced department supply budgets at each site by 20%. Curiously, the dollar amount saved by this reduction is slightly larger than the Herrera money agreed upon in the settlement (some schools are unsure if the Herrera money has actually been released). The math breaks down like this: if there are 150 certificated teachers in a school, the total amount of Herrera money for that school will equal $7500.00. The average sized school in this district spends upwards of $40,000 on department budgets. A 20% reduction equals $8000.00. Though admittedly speculation, Team Unruly believes Zendejas and the Board reduced supply budgets, expecting teachers to use their Herrera money settlement to make up the difference—or perhaps to cover the cost of the settlement itself.