Superior School District Announces Layoffs Due to Budget Issues

The Superior School District has announced it will be laying off a number of teachers due to 2024-2025 budget constraints.

According to a Fox 21 report, the district has notified 25 teachers and other support staff that their positions are being eliminated due to a significant budget deficit. Superintendent of the Superior School District Amy Starzecki says some of the major financial issues the district is facing includes the expiration of $5 million in pandemic-era relief funds, state funding not keeping up with the pace of inflation, and overall declining enrollment in the district schools.

According to the report, the district has 500 fewer elementary school students than it did before the Covid-19 pandemic. Superintendent Starzecki also noted the more students the district loses, the less state funding the district will get.

Employees of the district say the layoffs were not un-expected, as officials have grappled with the future of the budget for the last year with no easy solutions available. The vast majority of the district’s expenses come from teacher salaries and benefits, making it the obvious target to balance the budget.

On top of the layoffs, the Superior School District had previously announced plans to close Lake Superior Elementary to cut down on costs. Starzecki proposed an operating referendum as one of the few options the district has to address these budget concerns effectively going forward. Doing so would ask the Superior community if they want to continue seeing cuts made at the school district to balance a difficult budget, or invest more in public schools for the benefit of the area’s kids.