Cincinnati Public Schools' administration recommends cutting roughly 140 jobs across departments to reduce the school district's spending by $58 million.
Administrations presented the plan to the Board of Education during a meeting Monday evening. More than 60 people, many of them CPS employees, spoke out against the cuts during the meeting's public comment segment. Many demanded the Board vote to place a levy on the ballot in November to provide the school system with financial relief.
The school district says it's working with a smaller budget for the upcoming fiscal year and has cut spending by several million dollars to offset rising costs.
The proposed cuts would eliminate a variety of positions including social workers and mental health professionals, maintenance workers, accountants, and fine arts staff.
Board member warned earlier in the year that job cuts were coming, but pushed back on the district's requests to eliminate so many. Some asked the administration to go back to the drawing board to find other ways to save money. Board member Ben Lindy pointed out that there are ways CPS can keep more employees, but it would come at a cost.
"If we decided, for example, to cut transportation to athletic events, and if we decided to increase class sizes, we could avoid all of the reductions in social workers and all of the reductions in counselors," Lindy said.
Several CPS employees, like Walnut Hills High School security guard and bowling coach Jimmy Denson, implored board members not to approve any layoffs and urged them to place a levy on the ballot in November to give schools a needed financial boost.
"I work with the counselors. I help them as best I can. Sometimes I have to become a counselor, but it's all things that are necessary," Denson told the Board. "So, I'm asking you to do the necessary [thing] by putting a levy on the ballot."
The Board has until the end of June to finalize the district's $630 million spending plan. They must decide by August whether to ask voters for additional revenue through a new tax levy.
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