182 Manatee teachers lose jobs

In a budget workshop yesterday, Manatee County Schools Superintendent Rick Mills announced to the school board that 182 teachers have lost their jobs as part of a plan to save $20.6 million.

Those numbers include cutting:
• 107 basic teacher positions, saving $6.5 million,
• 41 in the district’s Rainbow program in elementary schools, saving $2.5 million 
• 24 Exceptional Student Education teachers, saving $1.7 million
• 10 English as a second language teachers, saving $607,290 

The teacher losses are part of more than 250 jobs cut overall, including 80 district office positions.

Other positions cut include custodians.

The savings plan also includes multiple property sales, outsourcing legal and audit services and closing the old Manatee Technical Institute campus on 34th Street West.

The news follows a voicemail Mills left for teachers and parents last week that said attrition will not cover all of the 188 staff positions the district announced in March it would eliminate for next year.

Read our complete story on the teacher layoffs in the May 23 East County Observer.