Although the local school district is planning to eliminate hundreds of positions, Fort Lauderdale teaching jobs will remain safe, at least for the time being.
Broward County Public Schools recently announced that up to 475 jobs could be cut from the district’s facilities and maintenance divisions. The layoffs are part of the School Board’s attempt to reduce the district’s $1 billion capital budget by $47 million. That budget pays for construction projects, major purchases and the salaries of most people in the facilities and maintenance divisions.
The district is looking at other measures to avoid cutting that many jobs, including selling surplus properties and backing out of design contracts on projects that are still in planning stages. However, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, it is still expected that some people will lose their jobs, regardless of any additional initiatives taken by the district.
Facilities and maintenance division employees will likely be the first to go, because, as the district currently has up to 33,000 empty seats, the U.S. Department of Education will not allow for the building of new schools or classroom additions, meaning fewer construction workers are needed.
The district has reported that no educators, including teachers, teacher’s aides or other staff paid from the $1.9 billion operating budget will be laid off yet, as the board is expecting to discuss cuts to that budget in the coming months.
Some officials are opposing the job cuts, saying the main focus should be saving jobs, not cutting money from the budget.
“This year, we are asking that you need to put our people first, otherwise 475 positions are going to have to be eliminated in order to balance the budget,” Chief Financial Officer Ben Leong said. “That is a huge number of people.”
During 2009, Broward County Public Schools cut its budget and 394 teachers lost their jobs, although many were later rehired. The district also eliminated some electives and extracurricular programs.