7 Ludington teachers lose jobs

LUDINGTON — Ludington Area Schools board of education has chosen to lay off seven teachers for the upcoming school year. The board met in a special meeting this morning. The layoffs are part of the district’s need to cut $900,000 from its 2013-2014 budget.

The layoffs involve three elementary school teachers with one-year contracts, that just ended. The rest of the layoffs were two other elementary teachers, a high school science teacher and a part-time art teacher. The layoffs will mean a $340,000 savings in the budget. The layoffs, according to Interim Superintendent David Killips, were based on evaluations not seniority, however non of the teachers were rated as ineffective.

Killips said at a previous meeting that the money could be used for the district’s fund balance savings and also for teacher raises.

The district recently passed bonds for technology and buses. By law that money can only be used for those dedicated purposes. Operational costs come from state funding, raised through sales tax.