Published: March 9, 2010
Updated: 6:01 p.m.

12 furlough days OK'd for Irvine schools

ALEX BERGJANS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

IRVINE – The Irvine Unified school year will be four days shorter as the IUSD School Board and Irvine Teachers Association agreed Tuesday to 12 furlough days for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 educational calendars.

The board ratified a proposal that cuts four days out of the remaining year for teachers as well as for other district employees and then cuts eight days in the next school year.

The district announced that school will no longer be in session on Monday, June 8; Tuesday, June 9; Monday, June 14; and Tuesday, June 15 2010.

It appears that Irvine Unified is the second Orange County school district, following Placentia Yorba Linda, to reach an agreement that shortens the current school year.

Under the current plan, IUSD saves around $714,000 each furlough day, totaling more than $8.5 million in budget cuts in the next two years.

These savings come directly out of all employees' salaries which, as a consequence of the shortened school year, will be reduced by about 2.2 percent in 2009-2010 and 4.4 percent in 2010-2011.

This agreement, however, spared the school employees from more salary rollbacks, a cost saving measure that the district had considered earlier this year.

The proposal reduces the number of Irvine public school days from 180 to 176 this year and cuts next year's total, a combination of class and staff development days, to 175.

With its latest cut, Irvine meets the current state mandated minimum number of 175 instructional days, which was recently reduced for this fiscal year by the Governor and the state Legislature from the earlier 180 day requirement.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/year-238 ... chool.html