The Sweetwater Union High School District will not be laying off any teachers or clerical workers next school year, which is in contrast to other districts around the county that have issued hundreds of layoff notices to help close projected deficits.

"There will be no layoffs in the Sweetwater Union High School District as well as no layoffs for this fiscal year for other staff members, which is a great thing," board President John McCann said during a news conference at Sweetwater High School in National City.

The announcement came one day before the state-required March 15 deadline to notify teachers that they could potentially be laid off. San Diego Unified School District last week approved issuing more than 1,000 layoff notices to teachers last week for financial reasons.

Several other districts have also issued layoff warnings.

The Sweetwater district, which has 42,209 students, is the largest high school district in California. More than 70 percent of its seventh-through-twelfth grade students are Latino.

Sweetwater officials credited an early retirement incentive program for helping reduce the need to layoff younger teachers.

About 60 have signed up for the early retirement program but officials expect that at least 134 will apply.

The Chula Vista-based district, which has a $320 million budget, is facing a $26 million budget deficit next year. The district, like others in California, is affected by the state budget crisis.

The district will save $6 million from the early retirement program. It also plans to use $9 million in one-time federal stimulus money and reduce other spending to close the budget gap. A district budget advisory committee was expected to present the Board of Trustees at its meeting tonight (Monday) in Chula Vista with a list of recommendations for savings.

Sweetwater Superintendent Jesus Gandara said the district offered the early retirement program primarily to save jobs.

"If we are to contribute to the national, the local and state economy we cannot allow people to be unemployed. We have to do whatever we need to do to keep them employed," Gandara said.

Sweetwater High School Principal Roman Del Rosario said he was thankful that his staff will remain intact for another year despite the economic challenges facing the district.

The weight this takes off the school knowing that beloved teachers are not going to be laid off, I can't begin to explain what that does to support us," he said.

"I read the papers and see that there's hundreds of layoffs throughout the county and to hear this news it's a tremendous burden that's removed. It allows us to really focus on the importants," he said.