Cairo School District to lay off teachers

CAIRO, Ill. -- The Cairo School District will lay off nine of its 64 teachers at the end of the spring semester in a move designed to save money amid declining enrollment and a decreasing tax base, school officials said.

The move will save the district about $270,000, district superintendent Gary Whitledge said.

The school board approved the layoffs on March 28.

The non-tenured teaches have been employed two years or less, officials said.

School officials said the board had no choice but to cut teaching staff.

Attrition

But Ron Newell, president of the Cairo Association of Teachers and a longtime teacher at the high school, voiced dismay at the decision.

He said it would have been better if school officials had decided to wait until the end of the school year and seek to eliminate jobs through attrition.

With an aging faculty, teachers are starting to retire, Newell said Thursday.

The district will lay off two special education teachers, two high school teachers and five elementary teachers, the superintendent said.

But it's possible that the district may have to rehire one or two teachers before the start of the next school year to fill needed teaching positions, Whitledge said.

Loss of revenue

The districts loses $5,000 in state aid for every one-student drop in enrollment, he said.

Whitledge said a drop of 30 students in enrollment would mean a loss of $150,000 in state revenue.

Cutting staff will help make up for the loss in state revenue and for declining local tax revenue, he said.

Newell said the district has cut numerous teaching positions over the past several years. "That has created tension and animosity," he said.

But he said the unionized teachers association understands that some cuts have to be made when enrollment declines and the tax base shrinks.

But these layoffs will eliminate quality young teachers and make it harder to hire new teachers in the future, Newell said.

"From our standpoint, it really hurts," he said.

Whitledge said school officials realize they're losing good teachers. "It's pretty tough to take," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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