TRAVERSE CITY -- More than 40 staff members in Traverse City's public schools will lose their jobs this fall, partly due to a recession-worsened financial crisis and continued enrollment declines.
Cuts will include six full-time and 10 part-time teachers, at both the elementary and secondary levels, 20 bus drivers and five transportation aides, administrators said.
It's the first time since at least the 1980s the district has laid off teachers, said Christine Davis, executive director of human resources.
The 11 teachers who plan to retire after June are far short of the typical 25 to 27 teachers who leave each year, Davis said.
"Not as many certified teachers are needed," she said. "If we had our normal amount of retirements, we would not need to be laying off as many."
Traverse City Area Public Schools face a budget shortfall of about $3 million next year. Roughly $2.4 million in cuts have been made, including $500,000 from transportation. The rest will be drawn from the district's fund reserves.
Paul Soma, the district's chief financial officer, last fall said layoffs were possible.
District data show salaries and benefits make up about 86 percent of its general fund.
"It's almost too bleak to really even contemplate," Soma said of the financial outlook in Lansing, where much of school funding originates.
The state's School Aid Fund is about $465.3 million short for this school year, according to a Senate Fiscal Agency analysis last week. Next year, that could grow to $948.3 million.
John Scrudato, president of the Traverse City Education Association, said the teachers' union and administrators made sure layoffs were done according to contract.
All are newly hired teachers, he said.
"We were trying to wait until the last minute so we could see how many jobs we could save," Scrudato said. "It's always a surprise and a shock when it happens."
Personnel recommendations will go before school board members June 8. Board member Marjie Rich said she was informed of the pending layoffs, but administrators "didn't have a choice," given the combined factors of enrollment losses and the economy.
Administrators in Suttons Bay Public Schools sent notes to eight newer teachers to advise them of the possibility of layoffs, Superintendent Mike Murray said.
There is a "good likelihood" that one or two of them could be laid off, Murray said. Out of 60 teachers, three plan to retire.
The district last summer made 30 staffing cuts in the wake of a $1 million deficit, but half later were brought back.
