Budget problems in one school district could result in the loss of several Florida teaching jobs.

Lake County School District is facing a $30 million cut for the 2009-2010 budget, which begins July 1. The cut would put more than 110 school employees at risk for job loss, including 62 teachers. In addition, 55 administrative and support staff positions could be eliminated, including assistant principals, teacher assistants, guidance counselors and food service workers.

According to an article by Employment Spectator, the budget cuts will come from state cuts, a decline in property tax collections and increasing utility costs.

Other options for cutting costs were reducing the summer school week from five days to four days, taking money from athletics and bands, cutting overtime and charging for transportation for field trip and athletics. The cuts are expected to save $27.5 million, leaving only a $2.5 million budget deficit.

“It pains me to sit here and talk about what could be reduced,” Superintendent Susan Moxley said in the article. “It’s a sad day in Florida.”

Despite some cuts here and there, Florida’s education industry has managed to stay level. Florida’s education and health services industry employed 1,061,900 workers during December 2008, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the same as during November 2008 and a 4.2 percent increase from last year.

Florida’s economy as a whole, however, has continued to decline with the rest of the nation during the current recession. The state had a total non-farm employment of 7,784,200 workers during December, down from 7,805,600 workers during November and a 3.2 percent decrease from last year. Florida’s unemployment rate also increased from 7.4 percent to 8.1 percent.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Jobs, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.