'Our board looked at the budget and tried to keep any reductions we needed to make ... as far away from the classroom as they possibly could.' —Kathryn Scroggin Superintendent, SVUSD Although the unresolved state budget crisis looms as the biggest issue facing the Simi Valley Unified School District in 2008-09, the superintendent and the school board remain upbeat about the new academic year, which starts for most schools Wed., Aug., 27.

Superintendent Kathryn Scroggin told the Acorn that any changes in the classroom would be "very subtle."

"Our board looked at the budget and tried to keep any reductions we needed to make in our allocations as far away from the classroom as they possibly could," Scroggin said.

The superintendent said most of the changes will be felt by teachers and district employees.

There is a freeze on travel to education conferences and a restriction on overtime except in emergency situations.

Vacant positions will be filled by retired staff only when it's critical.

Some of the probationary teachers—those who don't have tenure and were not offered contracts for this school year—may return.

"We'll be looking at finalizing our staffing next week," Scroggin said. "Our hope is that we would be able to offer all probationary teachers a position to work. There's some work to do before we reach that point."

Don Gaudioso, assistant superintendent of personnel services, said Wednesday that the district will try to rehire seven probationary teachers on temporary contracts.

Those teachers would be able to keep their jobs for the year, as long as the final enrollment figures released in October remain close to the district's projections.

But if enrollment is down, some of the teachers may not continue past October.

"We're more than happy to bring these people back," Gaudioso said. "We fully anticipate that they'll stay."

Simi Valley Unified was able to give the probationary teachers a second look because three teachers resigned and two others retired during the summer.

The board of education has also remained committed to retaining the same three goals and objectives from 200708: increasing parent involvement; focusing on student learning and achievement; and creating programs for at risk middle school students.

Board member Janice DiFatta said the first two board goals don't necessarily require money, but specific programs are needed to help middle school students.

"The middle school goal has a dollar sign attached to it," DiFatta said. "When we get a budget and we're able to sit down with the budget committee, we can work hard in identifying the board's priorities. We've been able to maintain class size reduction, maintain our current programs and maintain our reserves. We're in good shape, but unfortunately we can't add any programs."

Board president Rob Collins said he was excited about the district continuing to use Edusoft, a computer program that analyzes each secondary student's strengths and weaknesses.

"It's a fairly complex system and we're training teachers how to analyze the data," Collins said. "We're using it for secondary students who struggle. We're finding out where their weaknesses are so teachers can address their needs and get them back on track."