Colorado school district to cut 150 jobs amid $27.5M budget shortfall
Major job cuts are coming to one of the biggest school districts in Colorado.
Adams 12 Five Star Schools is cutting about 150 jobs as it faces a $27.5 million budget shortfall. The district says it employs about 5,000 people and has a student enrollment of about 36,000.
The district has already eliminated some positions, including teacher librarians in elementary and middle schools and gifted and talented advocates at all levels.
In addition to staffing reductions, funding for elementary, middle, and high schools will be cut by about 7%. Elementary schools will see an $8.5 million reduction, middle schools will lose $2.9 million, and high schools will face a $4.1 million cut.
"I am angry and sad that we find ourselves in this position because we live in a state where so many stubbornly deny hard facts about how inadequate our school funding system is," Superintendent Chris Gdowski said in a statement Thursday. "I am committed to doing everything I can to bring future changes to our state's broken school finance system."
District officials say the cuts are necessary due to declining enrollment, reduced state funding, and rising costs. The district estimates that Colorado underfunds Adams 12 by over $272 million. In response, the Board of Education has passed a resolution urging the state legislature to increase school funding.
As a result of the cuts, some elementary schools will have larger class sizes, and some middle and high school electives will also see increased class sizes.
