Schools

Clawson School Board Votes to Lay Off 15 Teachers

With expected big losses of state and federal funding, the district plans to save costs by cutting teachers and other areas.

The Clawson School Board voted Monday night to lay off 15 teachers effective June 30, citing a loss in federal and state funding as the key reason for district cuts. 

The board voted 5-2, with members Mike Bosic and Cyndi Peltonen dissenting. 

Superintendent Cheryl Rogers said the cuts are "across the board," meaning teachers from the elementary, middle and high school level will be laid off. Music and special education teachers were spared, she added.

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The district expects to lose about $900,000 in federal funding and $700 per pupil in state funding, Business Services Director Gary Jackson said.

In total, the district projects it will lose nearly $2 million next school year with about $1.2 million in added expenses, such as retirement and insurance cost increases. That means the district will have to come up with about $3.2 million to stay afloat next year.

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The layoffs will save the district about $75,000 per teacher — that figure combines salary and benefit costs, Jackson said.

Last month, Jackson said the lost funding would be . However, he said Monday night that the district will make up for the remaining budget loss with cuts in other areas of the schools.

Layoffs were based on seniority, Jackson said, and most of the selected teachers have been in the district for three or fewer years.

Last year, Clawson Schools gave layoff notices to about 15 teachers but later rescinded and called all of them back, Jackson said. Rogers said she hopes the same will happen this year. "Our hope is the funding comes through so we’re able to rescind these," Rogers said.

But Jackson said this year is a different scenario because the district will lose the state and federal funding it has received in previous years. "There's a big difference between this year and last year," Jackson said. "There are a lot of factors here."

Teacher layoffs are as follows: Jill O'Connor, Noel Slowik, Jennifer Stanton, Brynn Allen, David Starlin, Corinna Wild, Rachel Haller, John Kernan, Matthew Provost, Meghan Parnell, Donald Myers, Dorian Hackney, Jaime Martin, Mary Geib and Lisa Barnett.


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