Middletown City Schools plans to lay off 43 employees at the end of the school year.
Since March 2020, school districts around the country collectively received tens of billions of dollars from the Elementary and Secondary School Relief Fund, or ESSER, to make up for learning loss during the pandemic. Middletown was one of those school districts, receiving a total of $42.5 million over the last few years.
The district says it used that money to hire additional educators and support personnel. As that funding comes to an end, it now has to let a sizable portion of those employees go.
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Middletown's Superintendent Deborah Houser, who took over the district's top job in early 2023, says she knew ESSER funding wasn't going to last forever and these layoffs were inevitable.
"Since Day One, we knew that we could not keep all of those positions because that money would run out, to be exact, in September 2024," Houser told WVXU.
According to Middletown Schools, 40% of ESSER-funded staff will be let go once the school year comes to a close. The district says it was able to avoid laying off the rest of those employees thanks to its "fiscal responsibility."
While moving ahead with 43 layoffs was tough, Houser says with the constant shuffling in public schools, it's likely many of them will find their way back to the district in no time.
"Between now and August there's lots of movement. People move, people go back to school, their husbands are transferred," Houser said. "Shoot, the majority of the 43 will most likely have a position in Middletown City Schools at the beginning of next school year."
ESSER funding information from the Ohio Auditor shows that school districts will receive their last injection of COVID-era federal dollars by the end of September and will have to spend all money by the end of January 2025.
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Middletown isn't alone. Other local districts are expected to make similar cuts later this year.
Cincinnati Public Schools will lose more than double the ESSER funding Middletown received and is currently grappling with how to deal with loss. Since last fall, CPS has turned to the community for input on where it should make cuts and what should be retained. District board members say some difficult decisions will have to be made this year.
When it comes to cuts, Housers advice to other schools is to keep in mind what's best for the district as a whole.
"I guarantee you, they're making the decisions right now as we speak and they're probably going through the same exact thing that we're going through, but my advice is, remember your goals and what's at your core," she said.
The 43 laid-off employees will receive their last paychecks from Middletown Schools in August.
