Anticipating a $13.5 million dollar cut next year, the Tulsa Public Schools board is asked to consider a proposal to cut 142 teaching positions.
"We, up until this point, have made every decision we possibly could as far away from our classrooms, as far away from our students and teachers," said TPS Superintendent Deborah Gist. "At this point, though, we have really no other choice but to make decisions that will impact our schools directly."
The proposal comes on the heels of eliminating 102 non-classroom positions and changing bell times and athletics programs. Those moves will save roughly $4 million. Gist said students are everyone’s main concern.
"We are totally committed to our new strategic plan, Destination Excellence. We believe that we will be able to do even more with less, but this makes it extraordinarily difficult," Gist said.
The proposal will increase class sizes in many cases, as the district would move from student to teacher ratios to maximum class size numbers for kindergarten through 12th grade. The proposal also eliminates library assistants district-wide, though Gist hopes to keep those employees somehow.
"But they're doing work they love in an important place they love with people they like to work with, and the librarians, then, also that has a big impact on their work," Gist said.
The school board will vote Monday. TPS should learn next month what next school year's cut will be. Though the district is planning on $13.5 million, it could be as much as $20 million.
