Tulsa Public Schools Will Start Next Year With Fewer Teachers

Tulsa Public Schools will be starting next year with fewer teachers, because they can't afford to keep them.

It's being driven by a flat budget for education after years of cuts. It's both a state and federal funding issue - when the state cut funding dramatically 2 years ago - federal money helped bridge some of the gap.

Now that money is going away - and the state isn't replacing it - basically making the budget cuts of 2 years ago - the new normal.

"We're not going to get any new money, those dollars went away," said TPS Superintendent Keith Ballard.

A frustrated superintendent of schools says the legislature has decided to keep education funding at 2008 levels - even though state tax income has recovered.

"I am much more dismayed at this point that we have increased revenues and we can't do something to avoid these kind of cuts," Ballard said.

Ballard says TPS is losing $5.6 million of federal stimulus money that bridged a gap in state funding for the last two years. Now the federal money has run out - and the state is not replacing it.

"More dollars came in state revenues but now state legislators and the governor's office say they want to use those dollars for tax cuts, so it doesn't look like we're going to get any relief to make up that $5.6 million that's going away," Ballard said.

At the legislature, the momentum is not just for tax cuts, but for the total elimination of the income tax. School districts worry that without a sure replacement for the money - education funding could face even more cuts in the coming years.

The flat state budget for education will force TPS to cut 77 employee positions. The loss can be absorbed through attrition - so no layoffs are needed - but it will mean larger class sizes.

"We have to cut more, even in a time of increased prosperity, we have to cut more to bring things into alignment," Ballard said.

Tulsa Public schools has just under 41,000 students and just over 2,800 teachers. The number of students is dropping slowly - but the ratio to teachers is changing even faster.