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Layoffs Continue As Bay Area Teachers Protest Budget Cuts

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - Hundreds of teacher layoff notices went out this week in school districts across the Bay Area as teachers converged in Sacramento for a week long series of demonstrations.

State budget cuts and declining enrollment left the Mount Diablo School Board no choice according to its president Gary Eberhart.

KCBS' Margie Shafer Reports:

"We actually completed the process of laying off 111 certificated teachers in the district," said Eberhart. "It's so much worse than it was years ago where we used to send out layoff notices and then through attrition and other things that were going on we would end up hiring most, if not all, the folks that were on layoff back. But I just don't think that's the case this year."

In San Francisco, the board of education has voted to eliminate 152 teaching and administrative positions.

"Their decision is going to hurt the kids," said Ken Tray, political director of the United Educators of San Francisco and a social studies teacher at Lowell High School. "Lincoln High School, as an example, already has lost its entire music program. These cuts hurt."

These cuts may not be over either as district officials await the governor's May revise, which could require more cuts.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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