By J. PATRICK PEPPER
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — The Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education on Dec. 14 approved layoffs for nearly 200 employees.
In total, 74 noninstructional employees and 121 teachers are affected by the staffing cuts. Noninstructional cuts were effective Dec. 15, while the teaching cuts become effective Feb. 1, when the second semester begins.
The layoffs are the result of less-than-projected state aid funding that has left the district scrambling for ways to make up for a midyear $12 million budget deficit. The district already had cut spending by $10 million compared to the previous year when the board approved this year’s budget in June. The cuts are equal to about $655 less per student than the district had in 2008-09.
“This will have a direct impact on the way we deliver education to our students,” DPS spokesman David Mustonen said.
Despite the grim prognosis, the district is expected to make even more cuts in January. Expected losses include more than 40 additional noninstructional employees and 18 teachers.
District officials said they have tried to find as many ways as possible to make the cuts without eliminating jobs, but the unwillingness to accept proposed contract concessions by the Dearborn Federation of Teachers and the Dearborn Federation of School Employees, the noninstructional employee group, has necessitated the moves.