The Edmonds School District could lose about 35 teaching positions in the coming school year, two teachers could be laid off and one teacher may have hours cut.
Edmonds School District officials have declared the 35 full-time equivalent teaching positions as surplus and sent out one Reduction In Force (RIF) notice in an effort to close a roughly $4.5 million budget gap.
The two teachers who did not get placements for next year were “provisional” teachers who, because they’ve taught less than two years in the state, legally weren’t part of the RIF process, said Debbie Jakala, district spokesperson.
The RIF notice reduced one French teacher’s hours by 0.2 of a full-time equivalent position, or one period a day. The other positions were closed through voluntary attrition, including retirement, resignations and leaves of absence.
None of the 35 teaching positions was cut by not renewing year-to-year contracts, said Marla Miller, assistant superintendent. This year, as every year, several non-continuing contracts ended, but that is not because of budget cuts, Jakala said.
May 15 was the deadline to send RIF notices, a process required before layoffs can be made.
The district is seeking comments on how to close the budget gap. Faced with the May 15 deadline, officials sent the RIF notice and declared the 35 teaching positions as surplus, but could add them back if that’s determined to be the best course of action, they say.
The position cuts would impact class sizes next year, but how much in each classroom remains to be seen.
Officials estimate that cutting 35-40 teaching positions would raise the ratio of students to teachers in all grades from kindergarten to 12th grade by one student. Ratio is not the same as class size, as some classes in a building are larger and some smaller than the student-teacher ratio.
The district employs about 3,000 certificated educators.
“Because we are such a large school district, we are often able to absorb many of our surplussed teachers,” said Jennifer Aaby, community relations specialist.
For the present school year, 8.8 full-time equivalent positions were declared surplus, and the total Reduction in Force was 0.5 of a full-time equivalent position, Aaby said.
Earlier in the budget process, reports for next year showed that the district may have needed to close as many as 50 teaching positions.
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