PORT ANGELES — Up to 14 teaching positions will be eliminated in the Port Angeles School District next year with most of the cuts coming at the middle and high school levels.
Six of the cuts are definite, and the district’s Fiscal Advisory Committee is recommending to cut about eight more positions.
The district expects to see an enrollment decline of 142 students next year, which means the loss of about $725,000 in state and federal funding.
“The decline in enrollment will automatically require that we cut six teaching positions because of the funding formula we have in place,” said Jim Jones, the district’s executive director of business and operations.
The school board set up the funding formula three years ago when it realized the decline in enrollment was going to continue for several years, board Treasurer Charlie McClain said.
The automatic reduction in staff combined with the Fiscal Advisory’s recommendation means a total of 12 teaching positions at the middle and high school levels could be eliminated.
The proposed teaching cuts represent about 5 percent of the district’s approximately 280 teachers.
