It's final. Chesterfield County teachers will see pay cuts. Classes will be larger and hundreds of positions will be eliminated.
The School Board last night unanimously approved a revised $517.8 million 2011 operating budget with about $36 million in cuts. Those reductions include eliminating 304 positions, about half of those through attrition, and pay cuts of 3 percent for top administrators and 2 percent for teachers and other employees.
Among the positions being eliminated are 61 instructional assistants; 44 special-education teachers, aides and coordinators; 25 reading teachers; and administrators at the school and central office level.
"This is the worst part for an elected official, to see anyone lose a job anywhere," said board member U. Omarh Rajah. "My heart goes out to those mothers and fathers" who are losing their jobs. "We wish that we didn't have to cut anybody."
The pupil-teacher ratio will increase by one student, which could mean an additional three or more students for some classes. School facility rental fees will increase 20 percent, and driver education fees will go from $100 to $116.
"It's been a long and difficult budget process," David Myers, assistant superintendent for business and finance, told the board as he presented the budget revisions.
He commended several people in the school administration for their work and board members for putting hundreds of hours into the budget process in the past eight months.
"You reviewed, literally, every program and every dollar that this division spends," he told board members.
Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or jlizama@timesdispatch.com.
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