Akron Public Schools’ leaders will consider cutting 285 positions in the coming school year in order to save an estimated $24 million.
The proposed cuts include the elimination of 66.5 teaching positions in the classroom, as well as 77 substitute tutor positions that will not be renewed. They also include 58 teaching positions that are outside the classroom, 16 administrative positions, 15 support staff positions, 11 custodial positions and 42 other jobs.
The cuts would be effective July 1.
In addition to the cuts, the district is considering a pair of levies that would raise funds to build a new North High School and cover the cost of operations.
Superintendent Michael Robinson said during Monday’s meeting of the Finance and Capital Management Committee that the district could no longer afford to continue as it had been. He called the decisions difficult but said they had to be made.
“We’re trying to get right-sized to where we’ll still function without taking everything away,” Robinson said. “We have to make cuts.”
The school board has been discussing cuts for months. Falling enrollment, paired with the end of $150 million in federal pandemic relief funding which allowed for the addition of new positions, means staffing is higher than the district can afford.
Additionally, the board approved 10.5% raises for teachers over three years, adding about $21 million in costs. Those raises also included a provision to keep employee health care costs flat, meaning the district has to cover an average health care increase of 8.5%.
Many of the positions that would be eliminated — if the school board approves the recommendation at its meeting next Monday — are already vacant. Of the 285 jobs, 104 positions do not have full-time employees in them and six are held by employees who are retiring. Of the remainder, 169.5 positions would be eliminated and 5.5 would experience reduced hours.
It was not clear Monday night how many individuals would be affected in total. The specific jobs and schools have not been made public yet.
Robinson said the district “left no stone unturned” in its process. The moves are intended to keep the district from projecting a deficit in its five-year plan.
At the committee meeting, school board members questioned how this level of job cuts would impact student-teacher ratios, as well as what the district had been spending in overtime pay. They also asked if out-of-classroom teacher positions would be cut from the administration building or elsewhere.
Many of those questions weren’t answered at Monday’s meeting.
Fall 2024: Higher class sizes expected in Akron
The cuts are needed for several reasons, said Yamini Adkins, the executive director for human capital for APS. She said federal funding, which often paid for staffing increases following the coronavirus pandemic, is no longer available. Additionally, the district has not approved a levy in 12 years. And as APS has upgraded its technology and paid for other improvements, inflation has led to rising costs.
Robinson said APS should have made “significant, severe cuts” as far back as 2019 due to decreasing enrollment.
“You can expect to see class sizes a little higher than they perhaps were this year,” Robinson said. “And that may increase again the following year, and to the maximum, if we perhaps are not able to get a levy.”
‘We have to make the tough decisions’
Pat Shipe, president of the Akron Education Association, said she was concerned that the number of teacher cuts seemed “disproportional.” She questioned the transparency of the administration’s proposal, saying she was only aware of 51 names that were proposed for elimination — not the 201.5 association members who would be affected.
Adkins said district officials and the Akron Education Association met about the proposal, but AEA representatives did not want to see the presentation that was shown to the committee, which Adkins said would have illuminated the full list of proposed cuts.
“They declined to hear it,” Adkins said. “We were prepared to go over the entire process.”
Shipe said she was concerned the district was playing “transparency games” regarding the loss of jobs. Robinson, she said, has known about the need for cuts, but “this kept getting put off and put off and put off.”
Impact on Akron teachers
Adkins said the numbers may shift as teachers or others resign. And even those teachers who are laid off may be eligible to be recalled if a position becomes available. They will also be given priority to be considered for long-term substitute teaching or part-time tutoring positions.
Of the proposed cuts, she said, about $20 million derive from the district’s general fund, while $3.9 million are paid with grants or federal funds. Eliminating grant-funded positions will allow other employees to be paid with those dollars, Adkins said. As part of the cuts, some money will be reallocated to other jobs, and other new positions are expected to be added.
Diana Autry, president of the Board of Education, said after the meeting she thought the proposed cuts were fair. She said “no one likes to get rid of anyone” but that cuts will move the district closer to where it needs to be financially.
“I’m pleased we finally have been able to present some of these difficult decisions we have to make,” Autry said. “It’s tempting to keep kicking the can down the road, but at some point, we have to make the tough decisions, which is why we’re here.”
