In Saint Paul, Minnesota, the public school system is in complete disarray. More than 170 teachers will be laid off before the start of next school year. In total, more than 300 employees working for Saint Paul public schools will lose their jobs. Lawmakers are still concerned that they won’t be able to balance the budget with the proposed cuts, which means that more teaching jobs could be in jeopardy.
For the most part, students get a good education in Saint Paul, Minnesota, public schools, but if nearly 200 teachers are laid off they might start to fall behind. Officials say that dozens of teachers have voluntarily agreed to retire early, which is a decision that has made their jobs considerably easier. In addition to teachers, office workers and custodians will be laid off this summer.
Because lawmakers were unable to come up with the $630 million that was needed to balance the budget, the first place that they started to look was within the Saint Paul school system. Until students are able to go through an entire year with 170 less teachers, administrators will not know what the effects are. If officials are able to get the budget back on track, some of the laid off teachers may be rehired.
Most of the teachers that know that their jobs are to be eliminated took the news in stride. They will likely start to look for jobs in neighboring school districts, or collect unemployment until they are able to reapply at the same schools they used to work for.
