Santa Ana Unified School District board members voted Tuesday night to hand out pink slips to 287 educators — mostly teachers — next week.

The approval was reached with a 4 to 1 vote, a district spokeswoman said.

Certificated employees will get the layoff notices on March 15, which would give them enough time to appeal via hearings. A pink slip officially notifies an employee that it is possible that he or she could be laid off.

Santa Ana Unified is facing declining enrollment, from a high of over 54,600 students nine years ago to almost 50,000 today, said district spokeswoman Deidra Powell.

“If you are declining in student enrollment, you have to right-size your staff,” Powell said.

Pink slips could be rescinded after Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget proposal comes out in May or if more employees retire or leave the district.

Santa Ana Unified hasn’t had layoffs, or even pink slips, since 2010, said Barbara Pearson, president of the Santa Ana Educators’ Association.

“Our main goal is to save everyone’s job. We don’t ever want layoffs,” Pearson said.

The jobs listed for possible elimination include 100 K-6 teachers, 50 middle school teachers, 47 in the high schools and another 21 K-12 teachers who provide special education services and several assistant principals and program specialists. The list includes 70 teachers who hold temporary positions.

Pearson said she believes Santa Ana Unified is the only district in Orange County facing potential layoffs. The district’s 57 schools employ approximately 2,600 certificated employees, which include teachers and counselors.

In recent years, thanks to greater state funding, schools across Orange County and California have added computers, increased teacher salaries, restored or created new music programs and repaired buildings.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7829 or rkopetman@scng.com