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Union leaders and teachers urge Dallas School District to rethink plan to cut up to 45 positions
Summary
DEA and OSEA leaders and teachers told the Dallas School District board the proposed layoff resolution — up to 10 licensed FTE and 35 classified FTE effective 06/30/2025 — risks larger class sizes and reduced supports; the board discussed the resolution and said staff will begin identification work but no final vote is recorded in the transcript.
Amanda Perga, president of the DEA, and Kelly McGuire, president of OSEA, told the Dallas School District Board of Directors that a proposed layoff resolution focused overwhelmingly on student-facing staff and asked the board to "bring us to the table" to find alternatives.
The resolution presented in the board packet (page 10 72) states the district has identified a $2,670,000 deficit for the 2025–26 school year and proposes declaring the need to lay off multiple positions, "including up to 10 licensed FTE and 35 classified FTE, effective 06/30/2025," citing ORS 324,934 and relevant collective bargaining requirements. Perga said the cuts would increase class sizes (she referenced minimums of 25 in kindergarten, 30 in grades 1–8 and 35-plus in high school) and reduce critical supports, and she called the plan "not balanced" because it shields administrators while cutting those closest to students.
Teacher Rob Herriman, who said he teaches at Morrison, told the board that temporary low enrollment figures created by course scheduling made Morrison's current class counts misleading and warned that reductions based solely on those numbers would imperil the school's high‑needs students. Herriman asked the board to consider building‑specific factors beyond raw student‑teacher ratios and noted Morrison's current graduation total of 36 and that the site retains about 50 students for the district who might otherwise drop out.
Board members asked staff clarifying questions about timing and flexibility. District staff said the identification work to determine which positions might be affected would "begin in earnest starting tomorrow," but that any retirements, resignations or new revenue from the state could change the outcome. One board member noted the district's policy target of an 8% ending fund balance but said current projections are roughly 5% and that lowering the target would only postpone the underlying funding problem.
No formal vote on the layoff resolution is recorded in the portion of the transcript provided. The board chair said follow-up would be handled by the superintendent if needed and that the budget committee would consider tentative figures at its April 28 meeting.
