Hundreds of Cleveland school teachers who faced being laid off after recently being recalled will be able to keep their jobs.
Tuesday night, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District board voted to keep the teachers in order to keep class sizes to 40 students. But that move will cause a $13.2 million budget shortfall. In laying out options to the board, CMSD CEO Eric Gordon said everything that has been cut up to this point was done to avoid impacting students but now there are no other options.
“None of these are items we think should be cut but again our budget is not paper money it is real dollars and we have a legal responsibility to find $13.2 million somewhere whether that be from teacher layoffs, which we are recommending we not do or that be from service cuts in other areas,” Gordon said.
The exact number of teachers that will be kept is not known at this time and depends on how many teachers are needed to keep class sizes 40 and under. It is estimated that enrollment is down 3,000 students from last year.
Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke urged the board to not only keep the teachers but to recall laid off support staff.
“Do this tonight so there is stability in our schools. Do this tonight so we call all move forward to educate the children of Cleveland. Do this tonight so we can move forward together,” Quolke said.
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article courtesy of Newsnet5.com
