Cobb County Schools Eliminating 734 Jobs

Facing a $137 million budget deficit, the Cobb County school board in Georgia voted unanimously to eliminate 734 positions.

The jobs cuts, which is expected to save the school system $58.6 million, include 579 teachers and 59 para-professional positions, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. There are 15,200 employees in the system, including 8,300 teachers.

The district’s criteria for which employees will be eliminated has raised controversy as well. The district will base the cuts first on annual evaluations and performance ratings and then seniority.

“To cut teachers after possibly one bad evaluation, after they have been in the system for many years, is not the way to do things,” said para-professional Melba James, who has worked in the district for 16 years.

The Journal-Constitution reports Cobb County is one of several metro-Atlanta school systems that have had to cut budgets, eliminate teachers and impose employee furlough days to close large budget gaps.