Editorial: School Board lays off 14 teachers as budget tumbles

At the Tuesday, May 26, meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, the board voted to lay off 14 teachers as of June 30 in the first round of cutbacks. There will probably be more to come in the future as the district learns how deep the state cuts to the foundation allowance per student will be.
The teachers were chosen first by evaluation and other reasons and then by seniority. They are: Katelyn Tatom, Melissa Hiuser, Jaclynn Behrendt, Laura Fleming, Amanda Mitchell, Tania Owen, Tiffany Kelly, Larry Koch, Jawana Edwards, Dave Rowell, Michael Schwartz, Mark Scarbourough, Shanna Johnson, and Jennifer Bare.
At the high school the drama and choir programs are discontinued and at the middle school the Spanish class was cut.
School Supt. Kudlak said they actually decided to lay off 23.5 teachers, but ended up with 14 when they took retirements and resignations into account.
The district is trying to put together a budget to be approved by the board next month, but it won’t know how deep the cuts from the state will be until September or October. It’s a guessing game and Van Buren is with every district in the nation trying to deal with the cuts brought by COVID-19.
And, it was pointed out the district could lose 500 or 1,000 students this fall, cutting the budget even further. These are dire times for school districts everywhere.