RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – Richmond Public Schools faces a $23 million dollar deficit, which will mean bigger classroom sizes and teacher layoffs. According to school leaders these cuts could be the biggest seen in years, depending on how much money the school sees from the city and state.
The Superintendent has called for more than 300 job cuts across the board, nearly half of those are teaching positions. This means classroom sizes will increase. Elementary school sizes will increase from 16-23, and the changes be even more drastic at the high school level.
“You won’t have as many services provided to the children,” said Angela Dews, with the Richmond Education Association. “The teachers won’t be able to continue to do more with less and less.”
She said that teachers lose in the end. Teachers are also being asked to take three furlough days, and pay higher costs for health insurance.
“They need to invest on the front end,” she said, “instead of on the back-end where they are investing in jails.” “They need to invest in our future, and our kids.”
Right now they are crunching the numbers to see where the cuts land.
We will have the latest information for you on WTVR.com and CBS 6.
