CLEVELAND (WJW) — When pandemic-era relief funding expires later this year, it’s going to leave a $143 million shortfall in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s budget for the next school year, school officials said, leading to tough decisions ahead.
Schools CEO Warren Morgan, who has been at the job for seven months now, broke down a proposed deficit reduction plan to the media before education board members were to consider the proposal at a Tuesday evening meeting.
Specifically, he made clear the plan did not include school closures and that they were doing everything possible to not make cuts to the teaching staff (although Morgan said he couldn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be layoffs).
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Between 2020 and 2021, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund gave nearly $190 billion in relief funding to school districts to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the face of the $143 million deficit, Morgan outlined the areas he and his team devised to make cuts: