Schools to Reopen with Fewer
Teachers, Larger Class Sizes

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Most New Jersey public school districts will reopen next month with fewer teachers, larger class sizes and/or reduced programs, according to an NJSBA survey released this week.

Since February, school districts have experienced two state funding cuts amounting to $1.2 billion, as well as reductions to proposed local tax levies made by municipal officials following widespread budget defeats by voters in April.

To assess the impact of the financial cutbacks on classroom staffing and programs, NJSBA surveyed local school officials from May 25 through June 29. Approximately 40 percent of districts responded. While the survey results do not produce a comprehensive number of teaching staff reductions, they do identify trends in classroom staffing.

Fewer Teachers Eighty-one percent of the responding school officials said their districts would reduce teaching staff in 2010-2011. Almost half of the responding school districts said the teaching staff reductions represent up to 5 percent of 2009-2010 staffing levels. Another 36.6 percent of districts estimate that the layoffs will reduce teaching staff by 6 to 10 percent. Sixteen percent indicated they would reduce staff size by more than 10 percent.

NJSBA’s most recent survey did not address non-teaching positions. However, an earlier survey, conducted in March, showed that 92.8 percent of responding school districts planned to lay off staff, with many citing losses of administrative positions, guidance counselors and librarians, as well as non-certified employees.

Causes of Layoffs An overwhelming majority (73.4%) of respondents identified “state school aid cuts” as the primary cause of the teaching staff reductions. Approximately 8 percent attributed the layoffs to municipal reductions of voter-defeated school budgets in April. Over 6 percent cited enrollment decline as a reason for the cuts, while 4.5 percent said teaching staff reductions resulted from long-term financial planning. The remaining 8 percent indicated that a combination of two or more of those factors contributed to the teaching staff cuts.

Impact of Cuts Over 42 percent of respondents cited “larger class size” as the primary outcome of the reductions in teaching staff; 34.5 percent said the layoffs would result in elimination of programs; and 10.2 percent said staff cuts would have “no negative impact.” Over 7 percent of responding districts said the staff reductions would result in “fewer course offerings.”

Impact on Teachers A large proportion of responding school officials (42.4%) said the reductions in force affected positions held by tenured teaching staff.

NJSBA’s survey indicated that four-fifths of districts issued non-renewal notices this year to those who hadn’t achieved tenure. Of those districts—

• 20.6 percent sent layoff notices to all non-tenured teachers.
• 8.5 percent notified more than half of their non-tenured teachers of their intention not to renew their contracts for 2010-2011.
• Nearly 42 percent of districts issued such notices to one-tenth to half of their non-tenured teachers.

Projected Teaching Staff Reductions, 2010-2011

Percentage of Classroom Teaching Positions Eliminated

Causes of Layoffs

Impact of Layoffs

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