Mansfield City Schools cuts 50 jobs to save $8 million in budget crisis

Posted by author February 25, 2025 Jobs

Mansfield City Schools cuts 50 jobs to save million in budget crisis

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Details of a nearly $8 million shakeup within the Mansfield City School District were announced Monday night.

School board members during a special meeting voted to eliminate nearly 40 teaching positions and more than a dozen administrative jobs, which will take effect over the summer.

Those cuts were not to particular people, but to roles that would have been available during the coming school year, explained Chris Elswick, president of the board.

Affected employees potentially could transition into other available careers ahead of the 2025-26 fiscal year.

“That’s something the union contract will dictate,” Elswick said. “They will decide who is in what position.”

Budget deficit corrected through June 2028

Measurers approved by the board Monday night were designed to address the district’s 5-year forecast, according to Tammy Hamilla, treasurer of the school system.

“Our deficit spending has been corrected through fiscal year 2028,” Hamilla said. “Through June of 2028.”

The district had faced a financial shortfall of $4 million this year that was expected to grow with time.

A narrative provided by administrators explained the district “instituted a hiring freeze to reduce staff through attrition and a reduction in force.”

“These staff cuts are the basis for the written plan for the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce,” the narrative reads. “The district is working on increasing class sizes, cutting departmental budgets where appropriate and reducing purchased service contracts.”

The reductions are expected to save money through both salaries and benefits.

Several of the cuts will cause unemployment expenditures, and a few will generate new outsourcing costs.

Nearly 40 teaching positions will be eliminated

The largest group of positions lost is coming through a group of 21 staff — 17 certified and four classified — who are retiring at the end of this school year.

“Of the certified retirements, one is a nurse who will be replaced with a new employee,” the narrative reads. “The speech pathologist will be replaced through services with the (educational services center).”

Another five teachers who had previously retired but were then rehired on limited contracts will see their positions non-renewed after fiscal year 2025.

“Three teachers have submitted their resignation for the next school year,” the narrative reads. “A safety coordinator is being paid through a purchased service contract that will not be returning.”

The district is eliminating five teaching positions within the career technical area and is decreasing middle school exploratory courses.

Several administrative jobs cut, reduced and outsourced

The most extensive administrative cut board members passed Monday gutted the district’s entire human resources department.

The four HR workers will see their careers end this summer. A portion of their duties will be distributed to other district employees, but most of the work will be outsourced to an HR firm.

The district’s academic services department, which contains two employees, was also eliminated Monday night. The duties of that department will be shared among remaining school staff.

The special education pupil services department will have two positions cut, “with the responsibility of the staff being distributed to other employees within the district offices.”

The school system’s transportation director will have their job reduced to three days per week, which will take away their eligibility for insurance.

The treasurer’s staff will be reduced by one employee “with the remainder of the staff adjusting the workload within the office.”

“Four other administrative positions will be eliminated,” the narrative reads. “One of these positions will be replaced by (educational services center) staff and one position will be rehired at only three days per week which does not meet the requirements for being eligible for insurance benefits.”

‘You don’t want to affect the students’

The budget-reduction measurers passed Monday will be presented to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce for approval, according to Stan Jefferson, the district’s superintendent.

“We’ll be working with them on a monthly basis,” Jefferson said. “We have to execute the plan.”

The superintendent said “reductions are painful,” but were necessary to keep the school system in good standing with the state.

“They are things that you have to do at that particular moment as you are trying to balance your budget,” Jefferson said. “There’s a number of other things that we still have to do.”

For the most part, the superintendent said, students were protected from the extensive budget cuts.

“You don’t want to affect the students,” Jefferson said. “What we focused on was trying to do as much as possible in terms of not having any bearing on children, and to work on the outer perimeter.”

ztuggle@gannett.com

419-564-3508