The Cleveland Metropolitan School District started issuing layoff notices to teachers, classroom aides and other administrative staff on Friday. A district spokesperson told Signal Cleveland that further information, including the total number of layoffs for unionized and central office staff, would not be available until next week.
Cleveland Teachers Union President Errol Savage said the cuts are in the hundreds, though the exact numbers could change. At this point, they include about 150 teachers and about 120 other educators and school nursing staff.
District officials have said the cuts are needed to “right size” the district and avoid a future deficit that could lead to state control of the city’s public schools. Next year, the district will have 29 fewer schools under a consolidation plan it has called Building Brighter Futures.
The union that represents teachers and staff, as well as an increasingly vocal group of parents, have pushed back on that claim. In recent days, they have taken aim at the district’s spending on consultants hired to handle human resources, utility negotiations and transportation functions.
Savage, who met Friday morning with CMSD CEO Warren Morgan, said the cuts are not needed.
“We don’t have a financial crisis. We don’t have a budget deficit,” said Savage, who was sworn in as CTU president April 9. “I don’t understand why we are cutting these people who work directly with children.”
Morgan indicated during a school board meeting last month said that even after closing schools and trimming other costs, the district would still face a nearly $50 million deficit but not until 2029. He foreshadowed the layoffs at that meeting and said cuts at the district’s central office would be significant. In 2024, Cleveland voters approved a levy that gave the district an annual infusion of $49 million. But that only bought the district time, officials said, and didn’t erase looming deficits.
In recent weeks, anxiety over the layoffs has ramped up, particularly among teacher’s assistants and other support staff called paraprofessionals. That includes staff who run planning centers in school buildings, which aim to prevent suspensions. It also includes staff who help student navigate college and career options.
In early March, the district signed an agreement with the CTU to allow planning center aides, if they get laid off, to move into positions in the classroom helping out teachers. The goal of that agreement was to protect planning center aides — already among the lowest paid staff in the district — by allowing them to transfer their pay seniority if they take a classroom job. It’s not clear if that move preserved jobs or, if so, how many.
Gregory Wheeler, a planning center aide at East Clark Elementary, has worked for the district for 20 years. He was not laid off Friday but said he had concerns for the future of staff who do his job, which was created by the district nearly 20 years ago as an added support to students who were acting out at school. Some are worried the district may cut some types of support jobs entirely.
“It’s just anxiety because of the lack of clarity,” Wheeler said. “I mean, it’s scary for me because, you know, I’ve seen them wipe out whole [job] classifications.”
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Cleveland Teachers Union response
The Cleveland Teachers Union, which represents about 4,300 teachers and staff members, has maintained that district has provided no financial justification for current layoffs.
Union officials said they have worked with CMSD leadership since the Building Brighter Futures plan was announced last year, and will continue to do so. But, officials added, the district has resisted meaningful participation.
At this point, the union said Friday, it is focused on “supporting our members and will work with the district to ensure that our contract is followed and our members have the resources they need at this difficult time.”
