SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- The Santa Ana Unified School District plans to address a $187 million budget shortfall this year by laying off 280 teachers and counselors.
"That represents less than one quarter of all the cuts that we're proposing. Most of the cuts are away from personnel like in supplies and services," Ron Hacker, associate superintendent and chief business official for SAUSD, said.
The deficit comes from COVID-19 relief funds running out and a 5% drop in enrollment each year.
"We have declining birth rates across the state, and it's the cost of living in Orange County, especially in Santa Ana, that it's just making it impossible for people to stay here," Hacker said.
The district offered a supplemental retirement incentive to eligible employees.
"We did get approximately 160 people take that. We did that in order to reduce the layoffs. So those are the more tenured teachers and counselors that are leaving with a retirement incentive," Hacker said.
The proposed layoffs and cuts would save the district $150 million next year.
However, some people in the community are worried about the ripple effects the cuts will have on students.
"It's disturbing to hear since there are problems in the schools as far as room size, students to each class," said Olivia Duran, a SAUSD parent. "It's worrisome as a parent. They already have so many students per class," another parent said.
Retired SAUSD teacher Cathy Spiel said, "Of course I don't want to see my fellow teachers being laid off. I've seen it though, since I've been teaching. So I understand it, but I'm not happy about it."
Hacker doesn't think the cuts will impact students.
"We're still going to have a really healthy counseling ratio. We're still going to have very healthy class sizes. We're still going to have good social, emotional support for the students. We're still dedicated to doing what's right for students despite what we need to do in order to balance the budget," he said.
SAUSD says these proposed layoffs are not unique to the district.
Hacker expects other districts in the county to consider layoffs in the future as COVID relief money runs out.
The SAUSD school board is expected to vote on the layoffs in February.