Elk Grove teachers, staff protest budget cuts | News

SACRAMENTO, CA - Hundreds of teachers and staff marched to Elk Grove Unifed School District building Tuesday night; as many as 2,000 people showed up to protest district budget cuts.

Many of the teachers went before school board members and sounded off against the proposed health benefit cuts and pending layoffs. A lot of the teachers wore pink arm bands representing pink slips.

Tuesday night, school boardmembers approved criteria for handing out pink slips; 240 teachers and staff could be impacted when pink slips go out by March 15.

The district is also currently negotiating a cap on health care benefits. Among the proposed health costs, a single person could expect to pay $63.40 a month for care.

According to the district spokeswoman, right now, teachers don't have to pay anything for health care.

The district will continue to look into health care issue next month.

By Suzanne Phan, sphan@news10.net

Twitter: @suzannephan