Staunton is about to make the cuts no one wants to see. The city school division is staring down a nearly $2 million shortfall and may have to lay off dozens of employees to bring the budget into balance.
Like many Virginia school divisions, Staunton hopes the General Assembly reduces the money localities must pay into the Virginia Retirement System for the coming year. Otherwise, Staunton faces a deficit of $1.9 million.
Interim Superintendent Ed Clymore says major cuts have to include jobs since more than 80 percent of the budget is for personnel. Clymore proposes 42 staff reductions. They include six people in the central office, 10 full-time teachers, and 17 classroom aides. The Staunton school division is trying to recover from months of controversy, so the cuts are especially tough.
Clymore says making those cuts is hard, "teachers hate to lose their colleagues and this type of thing. So that affects... even if they're not going out the door it affects morale in the building."
Clymore says Staunton school employees whose jobs are on the line... have already been notified. the decisions will be based on seniority. retirements and other voluntary departures may help reduce the number of layoffs. Clymore says the only good news here is that even after these proposed cuts, all five Staunton public schools will have a teacher-student ratio of about 18-1, much better than the state requires.
