high school school principals get the news they were expecting -- but dreading. over the next couple of weeks those principals will each have to cut hundreds of thousands of dollars from their budgets. and that could mean layoffs. jeff maher is live near zuni and san mateo tonight. jeff. like all a-p-s schools, by april 18th, the principal here at highland high school will have to cut his budget by four- point-nine percent. at this point, he's not sure how he's going to do it. scott elder, newly hired principal of highland high school, is going to be making some tough decisions over the next two weeks. "i do feel a little sick in the sense that we're being asked to do a very difficult job and the resources are dwindling" today, elder, and all the other high school principals met with a-p-s finance and human resource heads to talk about how the 26-million doar shortfall will affect their schools. he tells me the four-point-nine percent cut for highland amounts to somewhere between 250 and 300-thousand dollars. for other schools, based on their salary budget, it's higher -- topping half a million dollars. if elder can't meet his budget with employees retiring and not filling their positions, he may have to do layoffs. "i think a lot of people will find placement at other sites, but there's no guarantees" if employees are let go--- aps will try to relocate them to other schools that need help. but with a-p-s on a hiring freeze for new positions-- elder says employees who keep their jobs will have to do more with less. he says that means class sizes will go up. and it's not just principals who are worried about what's to come. "you're taking money away from teachers, you're taking money from classrooms, and really that has a negative impact on students" the good news for elder and other high school principals, is with enrollment. if it's higher come the start of next school year, the school will receive increased funding from the state. live near zuni and san mateo. jeff maher. kob. eyewitness news 4.
