Phoenix school district to cut positions because of declining enrollment, funding
The Osborn Elementary School District in Phoenix will cut more than three dozen full-time positions next school year as it loses money because of declining enrollment and the expiration of federal pandemic aid.
The district decided to eliminate the equivalent of 31.9 full-time positions due to the sunsetting of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund dollars, which were granted by the federal government to help schools address the impacts of COVID-19, and an additional 8.6 full-time positions because of declining enrollment.
The cuts include substitutes, behavior technicians, teachers, bus drivers, an English language learner paraprofessional, a director of curriculum, a computer technician and a payroll technician, among others.
“There’s an impact with every single one of these reductions," Superintendent Michael Robert said Tuesday during a governing board meeting. "We will feel it in some way, shape or form, from the transportation department to the human resources department to a classroom impact."
Not all of the positions being eliminated are occupied, Robert said during the meeting.
The district was able to retain more than a dozen ESSER-funded full-time positions, even as the third and final round of the funding is set to expire in September. Those include five behavior interventionists, a Native American liaison and a social worker. That was possible through new grants and merging job functions with other positions in the district, Colleen Toscano, the district's chief operations officer, said at the meeting.
In a written statement, Robert said the cuts were consistent with "decreasing or disappearing revenue sources." The district saw an enrollment decline of about 3.5% between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, bringing the student population down to 2,430, according to data from the Arizona Department of Education.
Over the past decade, enrollment in the district has decreased by more than 18%, according to department data.
Other districts in the Valley are facing similar challenges as they see enrollment drop: Mesa Public Schools is cutting the equivalent of 385 full-time positions next school year, and the Paradise Valley Unified School District is planning to close three schools in July.
Reach the reporter at mparrish@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Osborn Elementary School District in Phoenix will cut positions
