Wyoming school district faces mid-year staff cuts

WYOMING, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Educators and other supporters of education have rallied outside Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop's office in November, calling for education funding to be restored.

Education funding was an issue that Bishop went back and forth with Governor Granholm on during Michigan's recent budget debate.

Granholm wants to raise revenues to provide extra funding, while Bishop says businesses and other taxpayers can't keep being asked to bail out government shortfalls.

Meanwhile, a stand-off between the teachers union and school administrators could mean mid-year teacher cuts in the Wyoming school district.

Administrators in Wyoming say it has literally been a 1-2-3 punch in the past several months. Declining enrollment and funding cuts have caused the districts to plan for layoffs, layoffs that may come right in the middle of the school year.

First came the realization that enrollment was down 271 kids, some have gone to nearby districts, but most have left the area, 25 percent of those kids were children of workers at the General Motors plant that is closing in town. Add in the recent state funding cuts, and Wyoming's Superintendent Jon Felske says it puts the district near bankruptcy.

"I'm more concerned about if we don't do things mid-year how catastrophic it can be for us next year," said Felske.

The plan is to layoff more than 40 employees, laying off workers from just about every aspect of the educational process. Felske says many of the workers to be laid off are ones that kids see every day.

"Things are going wonderfully in the buildings, this obviously causes a lot of chaos," said Felske, "a lot of turmoil and a lot of, obviously concern."

Parents in the district are deeply concerned about the cuts.

"Because it's disruptive to the students, and like our daughter, she would be upset if she lost a couple of key teachers," said parent JoAnne Eighmey.

At Wyoming Park High School, a handful of people would be let go, including a very popular assistant principal.

"For me it would be easier to get through this year, then you try to regroup and say here's what we know," said parent David Eighmey.

The superintendent says there's a glimmer of hope that some of the jobs can be saved if the state can somehow restore some of the funding that was cut. For now, the plan is eliminating people and saving student programs.

"A full school experience for our kids, but they're going to have to experience it with less adults," said Felske.

For Wyoming, and many other school districts, the current cuts could be easy compared to what the next year looks to bring.