Duquesne+Schools+Face+Teacher+Cuts

= Extracurricular activities also may be eliminated = = = = By Mary Niederberger = =// Published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette //= =//5/27/11//=

= = = Under a preliminary budget approved Thursday, the Duquesne City School District will see its teaching staff cut from 51 to 29. = = Also, all extracurricular activities and after-school programs will be eliminated and its administrative staff pared to a principal and an assistant principal. = = And that's the good news. = = That's because the $14.26 million budget approved by the state board of control overseeing the district is still $2.52 million short. = = The board adopted a preliminary budget that is out of balance because it couldn't bear to make any further cuts to the educational program in the K-8 school for 413 students the district still operates. = = Also, its members warned they may not vote to adopt a final budget that contains the bare-bones program presented in the preliminary budget. = = "This board will not accept this as a reality," said Juan Baughn, a special assistant to the state education secretary and the newly appointed chairman of the board of control. "This is not over, and we are not going to let it be over until our kids are taken care of." = = He urged residents to contact state legislators to protest the $4 million funding cut the Duquesne district faces under the education budget proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett, an amount that accounts for nearly 30 percent of its budget. = = Initially there were questions about whether the district could continue to operate next year with such a funding loss. = = But last month, officials of the state education department announced that the school would remain open for at least one more year while the department worked with the state Legislature to compose a bill that would allow for elementary students to attend other area schools on a tuition basis, as the Duquesne high school students already do. = = Duquesne High School was closed in June 2007, and students attend either East Allegheny or West Mifflin Area high schools. = = Read more: [] = = = = = = = = = = = =News= =home=