School Board of Manatee County

Manatee school officials recently offered a deal to avoid 400 possible job cuts if all employees take a pay cut. But that promise rings hollow now for almost 200 employees, mostly teachers, who were notified this month that they will lose their jobs at the end of the school year. As it struggles to make budget cuts of $21 million next year, the district has cut loose 187 employees who work under one-year contracts. In recent years, annual-contract teachers were automatically renewed, except for those who were let go because of falling enrollment or poor performance. But this year, the district instructed principals to give termination notices to all one-year contract staff.