Santa Barbara Unified Board Votes to Save Teacher Positions After Massive Public Backlash

Are the members of the Santa Barbara Unified School Board magicians—or just scare mongers?

“The Santa Barbara Unified School District voted 5-0 Tuesday to lay off only two teachers. In March it sent out 85 layoff notices to teachers warning that they could lose their jobs.

Rescinding most of those notices was a dramatic about-face for the district, spurred by massive pushback from students and teachers.”

In two months they found the money and policies to save 83 jobs—out of 85?  Or did they use this as an excuse to set the foundation for tax increases, parcel taxes and bonds?

Every year, almost every California school district scares the parents and community.  Every year, two months later “solve” the problem.  Are these folks drama queens or abusers of the public trust.  Which do you think?

Santa Barbara Unified Board Votes to Save Teacher Positions After Massive Public Backlash

School district avoids most layoffs after making program cuts, employee retirements and resignations

by Joshua Molina, Noozhawk, 5/14/25    https://www.noozhawk.com/santa-barbara-unified-board-votes-to-save-teacher-positions-after-massive-public-backlash/

The pressure paid off.

The Santa Barbara Unified School District voted 5-0 Tuesday to lay off only two teachers. In March it sent out 85 layoff notices to teachers warning that they could lose their jobs.

Rescinding most of those notices was a dramatic about-face for the district, spurred by massive pushback from students and teachers.

Teachers and students have been on edge for months wondering if they were going to get laid off.

“It throws you into a tailspin and you must keep it together in front of your students,” said Santa Barbara High School teacher Kate Lambert. “You have to talk with your family and figure out your plans. What are we going to do. Where are we going to go.”

The district plans to form a finance committee to discuss the complexities of the budget throughout the year, rather than just before big votes on personnel. Even though two notices were sent, the district is still working to save those positions, which sources said is likely by the end of the school year.

The district found $9.6 million to prevent layoffs through a variety of paths. Since the original March meeting to send layoff notices, which stretched over eight hours past 2 a.m., 39 employees have announced resignations or retirements, freeing up positions.

The district also will reduce its zero period bus routes with a private bus company, ZUM.

The district will also save money by eliminating a contract with the city of Santa Barbara for park rangers to surveil schools after hours. It will reduce spending on its Program for Effective Access to College program for primarily first-generation college-bound students that have been historically underrepresented in higher education. 

Other changes included eliminating 18 staff positions at the school sites, two positions at the district office, and 16.5 full-time equivalent teacher positions. Despite the elimination in positions, all but two employees will be retained because they could fill a vacant position created through attrition or get re-assigned somewhere else, according to the district.

Board President Gabe Escobedo warned that even though most teacher positions were saved this year, there’s no guarantee that the district can continue to scramble to find the money in future years. Many of the positions being eliminated, he said, were hires from the COVID-19 pandemic era.

“We invested in a lot of positions, and I think at the time we needed to, but it put us in a position where we are now,” Escobedo said.

Escobedo said more challenging budget times are ahead. The district has to cut or save $4.2 million next year.

“I would love to sit up here and tell you that we can find the money to continue doing everything we are doing now, but it’s just not true,” Escobedo said. “We are going to do our best and try to do it in collaboration with our union partners, the community.”

He said there are only so many cuts to make that aren’t salaries and benefits. About 85% of the district’s budget is for personnel.

“Some of it is going to have to be positions, what I am hoping is that it isn’t people, and we will look at every creative way possible,” Escobedo said.

The school board’s new members Celeste Kafri and Sunita Beall have sparked a new tone, and have pressured district staff to provide specific answers to budget questions and reduce some of the uncertainty around spending.

In the past, some board members have been deferential to the district staff, rubber stamping proposals, but Kafri and Beall have been looking for new, creative solutions to budget challenges.

They said that next year they hope to have more “clarity” around the budget earlier in the school year so that they won’t have to send out so many reduction-in-force layoff notices.

“I think our whole board is really aligned on the idea of having more clarity around our finances and being able to make decisions with more information,” Kafri said. “I think the process will change next year if we can take these steps.”

Teacher Joel Block spoke at Tuesday’s meeting calling for more transparency with budget discussions.

“The initial proposal was based on a failure to try and find ways to amend the budget,” Block said.

He suggested that the district found other revenue sources only because there was a planned protest with students and teachers a week ago.

“There needs to be much more transparency, or this lack of trust will continue between teachers, the board and the public,” Block said.

Tuesday night’s board meeting was mostly mellow. The dozens of students, many of them in music and theater classes at San Marcos High School, who packed the room in recent meetings were not in attendance, but they claimed victory for the board and district shifting their position.

Over the past two months parent Michele Voigt and her two daughters Naomi Jane and Chloe led efforts to push back on the district’s proposal to cut music and theater staff positions. They, along with other students, held concerts outside the board room, and stayed until 2 a.m. on March 11 speaking during public comment.

Naomi Jane, a sophomore at San Marcos High School and Santa Barbara’s 2025 Teen Star, has used her platform to call for more arts funding.

In a statement to Noozhawk, the Voigt family said among its goals was to pressure the district to expand arts access at every school.

“We are celebrating the wins, no arts layoffs, but we must continue to push for restored high school course offerings and a full, well-rounded education for every student,” Michelle Voigt, Naomi Jane and Chloe said.