Nearly 200 Brockton Teachers Could Lose Their Jobs Friday

BROCKTON, MA — Nearly 200 teachers in the Brockton Public School system could receive a pink slip Friday due to a $16 million budget gap the city's school committee has been unable to close.

The school department warns that 344 employees, including 189 teachers, could be laid off. The cuts could extend to after-school programs, athletics, technology upgrades, bus service, and textbooks, officials told the Boston Globe.

Aldo Petronio, the school budget chief, blamed the deficit on changes in the state school aid formula. On his Facebook page, Mayor Bill Carpenter said the formula was "unfair."

In the past, the formula was based on the number of students who qualified for free lunch. In 2015, a new formula which classified students as “economically disadvantaged” if their families receive food stamps or other welfare benefits. That has cost the city about $6 million in state aid.

While city officials are not downplaying the severity of the gap and prospects of layoffs, the Brockton schools have laid off teachers in the past, only for them to return. In 2010, 431 teachers were laid off and all but one was back for the next school year. In 2012, 99 of 100 laid off teachers came back. Finally, in 2013, 199 teachers were laid off and all came back to the school district.

Click here to read more.

Image: File Photo