Central Coast News KION/KCBAQ: Why is Echo Valley Elementary School Using Substitute Teachers for Kindergarten on the First Day of School?"

A: North Monterey County Unified School District Superintendent, Sergio Montenegro, said it's hard to figure out how many kindergarten teachers will be needed each school year.

"We did the best that we could do with preschool numbers and sometimes we call daycares and try to get general number of how many kids," said Montenegro. So the district starts off with some substitute teachers until figuring it out.

"We can't have at the beginning of the year one or two or three extra teachers that we have to now carry for the rest of the year cause they get a contract."

Montenegro said like every district across the state, it lost millions of dollars in budget cuts. So it's careful not to hire too many teachers.

"Last year alone we cut about 2 million dollars and the previous year we cut more. We have cut things that aren't good for kids, not good for employees, not good for anyone."

But he understands parents' concerns and said usually those same substitute teachers are hired for the rest of the school year which should happen by next week.