PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles School Board anticipates operating with about 27 fewer teachers in the 2009-2010 school, authorizing Superintendent Gary Cohn to send notices to about 45 teachers with the understanding that 18 will probably be hired back.
At its Monday meeting, the board slashed about $2.56 million from next year’s budget, saving several secretarial positions, the student assistance program and delaying a decision on whether or not to have a common late start or early release at all levels.
The reason for the giving notice to teachers, and then rehiring them, is because the district will lay off teachers in a “bottom up formula,” Cohn said.
The district will lay off more than needed, and then re-hire teachers for programs or grade levels at which they are needed instead of trying to guess which programs will need teachers and at what levels, Cohn said.
Cohn also said at the meeting that he was hopeful that more teachers could be hired back once rules for Title I funding and other federal funding are clarified.
“I don’t have any specific numbers on that yet though,” he said.
During the budget cuts discussion, the board decided by consensus not to alter any of the cuts that were a direct result of the state Legislature’s reductions to a special fund approved by voters in 2000 through Initiative 728 — referred to as the I-728 fund – which pays for special programs such as full-day kindergarten and ways to reduce class sizes.
Those cuts alone resulted in 14 full-time teacher positions.
Each full-time teacher position could result in cuts of multiple teachers who work part time or to just one teacher who works full time — the combination of those will be up to Cohn to decide.
