Atlanta schools cut 495 jobs

By the numbers

Total positions cut: 495 (includes 35 vacant positions)

School-based positions cut: 397 (includes positions at schools being closed, merged or put under outside management)

Central office positions cut: 98

Total positions created: 197

School-based positions created: 177

Central office positions created: 20

The Atlanta school board voted Monday to trim the district's workforce by about 300 jobs.

That includes eliminating 495 jobs, most of them school-based positions, as well as creating about 200 new jobs.

The board approved the cuts unanimously with no public discussion.

Superintendent Meria Carstarphen has said the cuts are an effort to rein in Atlanta's administrative spending — among the highest in the nation compared to other big-city districts — and bring school staffing in line with enrollment.

More than half of the jobs eliminated are at schools that will be closed, merged or put under outside management as part of plans to improve Atlanta's lowest-performing schools.

But other schools also lost staff, according to board records:

• Dobbs Elementary School lost four teaching positions;
• Douglass High School lost four positions, including a counselor;
• Harper-Archer Middle School lost 10 positions, including teachers;
• Morningside Elementary School lost band and orchestra teacher positions;
• At North Atlanta High School, a performing arts teacher position was cut; and
• Gideons Elementary School, which is scheduled to be managed by a charter school group in 2017, lost about seven positions, including music, physical education and world language teachers.

Some of the cuts — including the ones at Dobbs, Harper-Archer and Gideons — are due to expected drops in enrollment, district spokeswoman Jill Strickland said. Strickland said listing music positions at Morningside among those slated for elimination was an error and would be corrected.

The cuts come as the board plans to spend $10.5 million on raises and bonuses for existing staff.

Several central office departments — including accountability, finance and maintenance — also saw cuts. District officials previously put the number of central office jobs to be eliminated at about 50. The plan approved Monday shows a net loss of about 80 central office positions.