Ashland School District will lay off about 19 staff at the end of this school year because of declining enrollment. Those employees were unofficially notified of the decision last week and will receive official notices soon.
Many of those being laid off are part-time employees. The majority are education assistants or paraprofessionals.
The district is seeking other ways to reduce staff too, like not renewing temporary contracts, attrition and leaving some positions vacant. Overall, these efforts will translate to a reduction of about 23 full-time positions.
The school district has suffered from declining enrollment in recent years, and as enrollment lowers, so does state funding.
The district currently has about 300 fewer students than it did in 2017, which corresponds to a $3 million decrease in state money tied to student population.
"It's simply time to really tighten our belts and make sure that we are staffing appropriately based on the revenue," said Superintendent Samuel Bogdanove.
He said the biggest reason for declining enrollment is the high cost of living in Ashland.
"You’re seeing fewer families move to Ashland, fewer families being able to find available housing in Ashland. And that’s been a long-term trend here in the city," he said.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Almeda Fire and the end of an open enrollment law in 2018-2019 that allowed students to transition into the Ashland district also played a part in declining enrollment.
The district closed a gap of about $2.4 million with the current layoffs, Bogdanove said, which was the goal for this year. However, he said the district will also have to cut another $2.5 million over the next couple of years.
"There’s time for a little bit more strategic thinking about the district we want to be and the kinds of choices we want to make sure are available to families. For that conversation, you need a little bit more time to make sure we’re really shaping ourselves in a way that’s going to have the kind of impact that we want to have on the community," he said.
Bogdanove said there's some concern about future needs for students in the district.
"Even though we made tremendous gains academically and socially behaviorally with our kids coming out of COVID, there's still high levels of need," he said. "[There's] some concern that, do we still need a higher level of resources than we can afford to meet all the needs?"
Bogdanove is retiring this year. The financial decisions for the district will soon be in the hands of new superintendent Joseph Hattrick.
