GM board to consider ‘reduction in force’ ahead of next budget vote
Shawn Cunningham | Mar 31, 2026 | Comments 1
Board members and union representatives discuss the possibility of the issuance of RIFs. Screenshot of meeting.
UPDATE April 1: Last night the GMUSD board voted to issue a reduction in force for its employees ahead of the re-vote of the district budget later this spring. We will have more on this story in the coming days.
By Shawn Cunningham
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC
According to Superintendent Layne Millington, the uncertainty around the failure at the March polls of the district’s $19 million budget is at the heart of problem. Millington said that contracts with teachers automatically renew on April 15, while the budget won’t be revoted on until later – probably in May. If reductions in the budget are needed to get it passed, there may not be enough money to meet the contracts.
In a slide presentation, Millington wrote that the “only option” under the union contract is to issue the reduction in force, which allows the district to fire faculty to cope with cuts if those are necessary to pass the budget. That particular slide said that the steps toward such a reduction — a RIF — were being taken including notifying and discussing the situation with the union. The final step would be for the board to agree to issue the RIF to be sent out to employees before April 15.
When the discussion had run its course, the board voted to hold a meeting on Tuesday, March 31 to vote on issuing a RIF. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Green Mountain High School, 716 Rt. 103 south and remotely via Zoom.
You can find the agenda for the meeting here.
Filed Under: Education News • Latest News
I’m not a Chester resident and probably have no right to make these comments but I feel they are necessary.
A RIF has a tremendous impact on at least two areas:
1 – the level of student education is diminished and
2 – the school’s credibility, ergo the student’s, is diminished by colleges evaluating student applications for admission.
Has the board considered eliminating all the athletic programs?
Yes, I know how alumni and parents feel about sports but there comes a time, as now, that athletic programs need to be honestly reviewed as true educational tools.
Additonal reductions may be found in class travel during school hours. Normally such trips are a beneficial part of education. But the board ask itself as the whether these are normal times.
Too many times, subjects like music and art have been the casulties of such reductions. Yet they are vital to students to learn about the value of such programs as they face adult life.
One final suggestion, why not approach the teachers’ union and determine if they will consider a temporary reduction in their salaries or medical insurance benefits. Since are are faced with the impact of RIF, they will be willing to consider this option.
The likeliness of them accepting such an approach is questionable yet,if not offered, it may be one that they will at least consider.
As a former school board member in Ludlow, I fully appreciate the difficulty the board is facing. I just hope my comments may help them deal with a very unpleasant situation.