"Dearborn Public Schools axed nearly 200 employees last week, and about 100 more layoffs are to come."Utica Community Schools laid off 40 last week and is asking employees to take three-day furloughs.
Employees in Walled Lake Consolidated Schools are forgoing pay raises for the first half of 2010, part of a union initiative to save jobs.
It was a tough week across the board in metro Detroit school districts, as the ramifications of the middle-of-the-school-year state funding cuts began to become clearer. The midyear cuts mean some students may lose their favorite teachers, staff won't be able to travel to hear the latest education methods and parents may find themselves doing more to keep extracurricular activities afloat.
In October, the state cut school funding by $165 per student, and soon after, 39 school districts -- including 26 in metro Detroit -- had additional funding cut.
Presumably good news came two weeks ago when Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced that yet another cut in funding -- of $127 per student -- would not happen in December. But