Budget cut plan at school district cleared by board

The Sausalito Marin City School District has approved a campus restructuring plan that would trim the equivalent of more than 12 jobs and save almost $1.9 million.

Superintendent LaResha Huffman said the district submitted the fiscal solvency plan to the Marin County Office of Education by the deadline on Friday. The county office mandated the plan to address a $1.4 million budget deficit for the district's 2024-25 budget.

District trustees approved the plan at a meeting Tuesday after weeks of lengthy meetings and community complaints. Under state law, layoff warning notices, or “pink slips,” must go out to the affected employees by March 15.

“Some things could come back later,” Huffman said Friday. “It depends on where we land.” Under the proposed restructuring, the district's campus in Sausalito will shift from a transitional kindergarten through fifth grade site to third through eighth grade. The elementary school principal, David Finnane, will assume supervision duties for the third through eighth grade classes.

The campus in Marin City will switch from a middle school serving sixth through eighth grade to preschool through second grade. The middle school principal, Byron Delcomb, would be let go after his contract expires in June, and his administrative assistant would be laid off.

Both campuses, plus a preschool program at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Marin City, would all be under the name of the district and its school, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy.

Huffman said the district could hire an assistant principal or another supervisor later to oversee the Marin City campus. “We need to see what will align with our focus,” she said.

In addition to the Marin City principal and administrative assistant, the district will lay off three classroom teachers to save $420,051; a special education teacher to save $136,605; and an instructional coach to save $166,731. Four “student success coach” positions would have their hours trimmed, saving $79,000 to $85,000 for each. They would still be able to work on a part-time basis.

Hours would be reduced for one of the administrators in the district office to save $37,908. Huffman said she did not want to state publicly yet which position was having its hours cut. “We're still working it through,” Huffman said.

Of the classified staff, the district will lay off one custodian and one food service worker. About $8,200 in spending on supplies would be cut, as would $189,225 in contracts. The plan would save $1.86 million and cut the equivalent of 12.45 full-time jobs. The fiscal solvency plan approved by the trustees, one of three scenarios proposed by Huffman, appears to have been most in line with the public in supporting the