East Bay School District Flourishes As Neighbors Struggle

PITTSBURG (KCBS) - The teacher layoffs and budget cuts that have affected so many Bay Area school districts were nowhere in sight when the school year started in Pittsburg.

The Pittsburg Unified School District has no plans to lay off any teachers this year either. In fact, the new high school campus that opened in 2010 is just the first of several renovations to come, said associate superintendent Enrique Palacios.

"In the next five years, all of the schools here are going to be completely remodeled or rebuilt," he said.

KCBS' Dave Padilla Reports:

Palacios said the budget is balanced, there is money in the reserve fund and enrollment grew 4 percent because of the new high school.

"It feels kind of nice to be a magnet, to be in a place where people want to go," said teacher Chris Coan, who's lived in the community for some 30 years.

Five hundred teachers now run classrooms for more than 9,000 students in the district. And there are plans to hire more.

Coan, president of the Pittsburg Federation of Teachers, said there would be a job fair in the spring.

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)