Barring major changes to the governor's budget proposal, the Simi Valley Unified School District may be forced to reduce its number of classroom teachers by up to 170 next year.

There are currently 1,000 paid teacher positions in the district spread among 29 schools and one adult school.

During a budget workshop meeting Tuesday at the district office, board members pored over a list of 63 possible cuts or reductions as they brace for a worstcase scenario: a budget shortfall of $30 million in the 2010-11 school year.

"This is not a happy place for any of us to be in," said Superintendent Kathryn Scroggin. "We acknowledge the frustration we all feel and the tension this has created for everyone, regardless of their role in our district."

One hundred and twelve of the teacher positions targeted for elimination are in kindergarten through third grade, as the committee's plan calls to increase the ratio in K-3 classrooms from 20 students per teacher to 29 to 1.

The proposal also calls for eliminating 12 elementary science teaching positions and 35 teaching jobs at the high school level, as well as reducing the work year for teachers from 185 days to 181 days and forcing all district employees to take one furlough day in 2009-10.

Scroggin admitted the district is still in the dark about the severity of budget cuts since the state had not yet passed a budget.

However, the district cannot wait to take action, said Lowell Schultze, associate superintendent of business and facilities.

"If we're going to have a $30million budget shortfall in 2010-11, we can't start making cuts in June 2010," Schultze said. "We need to start today. We can make our financial obligations for this year. We can't make our financial obligations for next year."

The district plans to send out notices this week advising teachers that it may have to eliminate up to 170 teaching jobs, said Don Gaudioso, assistant superintendent of personnel services.

If teachers retire or resign, they are not likely to be replaced, Gaudioso said. Simi Valley Unified must notify those teachers who are not being rehired by Fri., March 13.

Since district teachers are under contract, their salaries cannot be reduced, Gaudioso said, leaving the district with little choice but to cut jobs in order to cut spending.

"No one really wants to make salary cuts here," he said. "If we cut salaries across the board, then that will affect teachers close to retirement, and that impacts their retirement income for rest of their lives."

Other costsaving measures proposed by the committee include not replacing a retiring high school librarian but assigning the two remaining librarians to cover all high schools; doing away with literacy coaches; cutting Title I coordinators; cutting information technology staff; and reducing warehouse staff.

School board member Jeanne Davis suggested possible cuts in athletics.

"I think we should put sports on the table," Davis said. "We should look at things like stadium lighting. We should just put it out there and just look at it."

Scroggin said that no neighboring school district is considering doing away with sports and Simi Valley Unified has no plans to eliminate any sports.

The budget committee has already proposed reducing by 20 percent stipends for high school extracurricular activities—including athletics, the pep squads and the drill teams at Royal and Simi high schools—which would save the district $94,800 in the 2010 and 2011 school years. Generally, each school distributes this stipend among coaches and teachers of extracurricular activities.

Simi Valley Unified already has plans to reduce stipends to elementary, middle and high school extracurricular clubs.

Board president Eric Lundstrom suggested a work furlough day be considered for 2010-11, which would save the district about $540,000.

Board member Debbie Sandland said she would be willing to dip into the school's reserve fund—currently about $5 million, Schultze said—to help save teachers' jobs for one more year.

Her colleagues on the board, Davis and Janice DiFatta, argued against dipping into the district's reserves because it would take years to build them up to a safe level. Schultze said the Ventura County Office of Education might not approve Simi Valley Unified's budget if it uses its reserves.

Even if the board approves the first 51 cuts on the list, for a savings of $25 million, the district might need to make $5 million more in cuts if the worst-case scenario becomes a reality.

"We'll have to sit down again and put everything on a list," Schultze said.