For 49 Walker County teachers next week will be the last time they see the 506 seniors graduating from LaFayette and Ridgeland high schools.
For those 49 teachers, it will be termination rather than commencement week. A combination of factors is the reason why these educators will not return to their classrooms for the 2013 school year.
“This is my 40th year in education and this is probably the most stressful and difficult in trying to balance the budget,” said Dr. Ed Combs, the school system’s director of personnel. “Our problem is that we’ve been able to hold off so long that it appears worse than it is.”
Revenue provided by the state to help fund local schools has been in freefall for several years. As a stopgap measure about $3.5 million in reserve funds was used to bolster the 2012 budget.
At the same time, the cost of health insurance has skyrocketed, as have requirements to fund employee pension plans. The system’s share of paying health insurance premiums increased this year and is expected to rise substantially next year, the year after that and the year after that, Combs said.