HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) - The Cabell County Board of Education voted unanimously to approve 61 layoffs and 97 transfers for professional and service personnel.
Board members approved 48 reductions in force, or RIFs, and 83 transfers of professional personnel during a meeting Tuesday, The Herald-Dispatch reported. The board also approved 13 RIFs and 14 transfers of service personnel.
The RIFs and transfers stem from an expected loss of $2.6 million in state funding for the county for the 2016 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The county is expected to lose $840,323 in state funding for professional personnel and $239,469 for service personnel.
"Staff realignment, particularly when it involves reductions in force, is not something we would like to do ... but we have statutory mandates that we must comply with and budgetary issues as well that we must factor in," said board president Suzanne Oxley.
While some of those attending the meeting said they understood the reasons for the layoffs and transfers, they also expressed frustration with the situation.
"I understand that these are standards that come from the state, but it doesn't seem right that we are letting good teachers go just because they are new," said Amy Marsteller, the parent of a first-grade student whose teacher doesn't have a guaranteed spot in the county's schools next year.
Todd Alexander, assistant superintendent of leadership for Cabell County Schools, said he has every hope that they will be able to absorb the RIFs once Title I funding is announced in the coming weeks, but as of now they do not have a guaranteed spot for those individuals.
The decrease in funding also comes from an enrollment drop by nearly 200 students in the county from the 2014-15 school year to the 2015-16 school year.