Gorman Whacks More Teachers
Teacher assistants, actually, about 164 of them, set to be fired under the budget recommendation the schools chief rolled out last night. That’s on top of up to 600 teachers and 250 other staff previously targeted for layoffs in Gorman’s proposed budget. Grand total: 1,030 jobs, along with eliminating magnet school bus stops, sidelining middle school sports, and increasing classroom sizes.
“There aren’t any easy cuts left,” the $300,000-a-year superintendent said, as he stared into a CMS-TV camera, part of district’s multi-million-dollar public relations department, which loses about $80,000 in a budget where there aren’t any easy cuts left.
The cuts loom as CMS has been told to expect a funding shortfall of at least $78 million in state and county money. So, naturally, Gorman’s recommended budget hits the county up for nearly $16 million in new money. Nobody really expects CMS will get it, but it makes for good theater.
“We’re asking for what we need,” Gorman said.
The increase is included in Gorman’s budget recommendation along with six other progressively dire funding scenarios, the worst of which includes the mass layoffs and other budgetary atrocities.
Gorman stressed that the recommended budget is still subject to change, and that district officials continue to explore options, such as furlough days, that could prevent huge layoffs and cuts, if CMS doesn’t land the funding level it says it needs.
That funding level, as pitched in Gorman’s recommended budget, totals $1.16 billion, including $333 million from the county, an increase of $15.5 million. The balance comes from state and federal money.
The Board of Education is slated to vote May 11 on a final budget, with Gorman presenting it to the board of commissioners on May 25. A public hearing on the county budget is scheduled for May 27 and commissioners will vote to approve a final budget on June 15.
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