Tulsa Public Schools Hands Out 'Non-Renewal Notices' To 286 Teachers

By NewsOn6.com  

TULSA, OK -- Tulsa Public Schools plans to notify as many as 286 teachers they won't be on the job next year.

The school district says it's planning for the worst, while hoping to end up hiring some of the teachers who get the notice.

Tulsa Public Schools could terminate 286 teachers to save money. It's the maximum number the district would cut under the most severe state budget cuts.

"The last thing any superintendent wants to do is reduce the teaching workforce," said Dr. Keith Ballard, the superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools. "Having started my career in education as a teacher, my heart breaks for each and every teacher who will receive a notice of non-renewal in the coming days."

The district calls them "non-renewal notices," and they're going to 286 teachers, most of who were notified Wednesday.

Read the district's press release and its letter to first-year teachers.

TPS sent out the notices now because each teacher's contract requires notice by June first if they're going to lose their jobs.

The district says the cut is based on the worst case scenario of a $15 million cut.

Despite that, the planned budget for the district factors in cuts of 225 teachers.

The district has already cut 125 jobs at the Education Service Center, for an annual savings more than $5 million.

TPS has already cut $7 million from its 2009-2010 budget.

Superintendent Keith Ballard criticized the state legislature for delaying decisions on school funding, leaving districts no choice but to make cuts, in hopes of restoring them later.

The district has already offered retirement incentives.

Seventy-two teachers took a $5,000 payment to leave, and 42 more took an insurance benefit and retired.

That means the district will lose more than a hundred of its most experienced teachers and hundreds more of the newest teachers on the job.

There is a plan in motion to hire some back if state funding comes through.

Superintendent Ballard says "everything could change" when the state budget is done.

4/22/2010 Related Story: Tulsa Public Schools Offers Incentives To Avoid Layoffs