OXNARD : Employees Picket Educators’ Meeting

About 70 employees of Oxnard’s Rio Elementary School District picketed a board meeting this week to protest proposed cuts of about $500,000 from the district’s budget.

District officials have proposed the cuts to offset a projected shortfall in state funds to public schools next school year. But employees in Rio’s 129-member classified employees union protested Wednesday because the cuts could reduce working hours for secretaries, janitors and others and could limit medical benefits.

The 2,600-student district has five schools and an annual budget of about $10 million.

Jeanne Foster, spokeswoman for the classified workers’ union, said members hope that the district can find a way to maintain their working hours. “If it appears they’re not listening, we’ll do it again.”

The board is scheduled to vote on tentative cuts next week, Supt. Peter Rogalsky said. A final budget vote is scheduled in July.

If the cuts are approved, classrooms would not be cleaned and swept as often, district-subsidized field trips could be reduced, and supplies such as paper and pencils could be reduced.

The proposed cuts also include the elimination of a special program for troubled students at Rio Del Valley Junior High School, at an estimated savings of $36,000. A reduction in hours for school psychologists also has been proposed to save about $20,000, Rogalsky said.

Unlike other Ventura County districts, El Rio does not plan any cuts in teaching staff.