The Palm Beach County School District is eliminating 76 positions, a move it ties to “increased employee compensation and declining enrollment.”
District officials had warned of potential job losses throughout its negotiations with the Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers Association, arguing that the raise package it had put together — a 1.5% raise and a one-time bonus of 1.5% — was all the district could afford without jeopardizing jobs.
The CTA, with its members citing the high cost of living in Palm Beach County and their contributions to the district’s academic success, initially sought a raise of 5% and agreed to an arbiter’s recommendation of a 3.5% raise.
The district disagreed with that recommendation and told Palm Beach County School Board members that a 3.5% raise could result in lost jobs. School board members voted in May to give CTA members the 3.5% raise, and now, less than two months later, the district has notified its 76 media clerk employees that their employment with the district will end on July 31.
“The District has eliminated these roles as part of necessary staffing and budget adjustments directly resulting from increased compensation for employees and declining student enrollment,” the district said in a prepared statement.
“The District values our staff members, and our goal is to re-employ as many affected individuals as possible into available positions to help them avoid any break in employment and support their continued careers with the School District of Palm Beach County.”
The district added that it has established “dedicated re-employment support to assist each impacted employee and identify other employment opportunities.”
School district to try to ‘re-employ’ 76 people whose jobs it eliminated
Media clerks help students and staff members in the library, handling clerical tasks and book shelving as well as book check-ins and check-outs.
Declining enrollment has been a significant problem for large school districts throughout Florida, and, because state funding is based in part on enrollment, fewer students means less state funding. Meanwhile, district costs for everything from utilities to healthcare continue to rise.
Competition for students has also ramped up, with state lawmakers pouring billions into taxpayer-funded vouchers parents can use to send their children to a private school.
The Palm Beach County School District had largely avoided the big enrollment drops that were seen in nearby Broward and Miami-Dade. But that changed this past school year.
An October 2025 count of students showed that the district’s enrollment was down by nearly 7,900 students from October 2024, a drop district officials said would cost the district $66 million in state funding.
The district’s budget is vast — $5.9 billion in 2026. But much of the money it gets is legally bound to specific purposes.
The state does provide additional money for districts to raise teacher pay, but Superintendent Mike Burke noted that his district’s share of that money would only have been enough to pay for a raise of 0.6%.
In 2018 and again in 2022, Palm Beach County voters approved a property tax increase to help pay for teacher salaries and school safety. A renewal referendum will be on the ballot this fall.
Wayne Washington is a journalist covering education and Riviera Beach development for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at wwashington@pbpost.com. Help support our work; subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County School District cites raises in cutting 76 jobs
Reporting by Wayne Washington, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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By Wayne Washington, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
