Declining enrollment in the Duluth School district has resulted in some teacher layoffs.
District leaders says some of those losing their jobs are tenured teachers.

Altogether district officials say a total of 27 employees have been laid-off.
That includes both teachers and administrative personnel.

Duluth school officials say its bad news but Duluth is not alone.
80 percent of school districts in Minnesota are facing declining enrollment and with that comes the decline of per-pupil funding from the state.

"It's a difficult situation for all of us certainly, but most difficult for those impacted by the layoff," said Bill Hanson, executive director of business services for the Duluth School District.

The school board approved a total of 6-point-two million dollars in cutbacks for the 2008-2009 school year.

Hanson says the layoffs accounted for big part of that sum.

"Total position eliminations that we had was just less than three million dollars for the District," Hanson said.

Three tenured positions were axed-teachers who have worked for the district for a minimum of three years.

"Those individuals for the most part, they were elimination of a position-English as a Second Language," said Tim Sworsky, human resources manager for the Duluth School District.

Sworsky says the pain isn't over yet.
He anticipates more layoffs for the 2009-2010 school year due to projected enrollment decline.

"Historically we're losing about 300 students a year and that alone in itself would equate to about 12 to 14 teachers," Sworsky said.

Hanson says the current generation is 60 percent smaller than previous generations.

District spokespeople say the reduced staffing will result in an increase in the student -teacher ratio of one.
They say that increase will save the district more than one-point-one million dollars a year.

District officials say tenured teachers do have job recall rights, but those terms do not apply for non tenured staff.