2 percent of Miss. teacher contracts not renewed

The state Department of Education says Mississippi schools cut about 2 percent of the jobs for certified teachers this academic year because of tight budgets.
That's a loss of about 705 jobs among the roughly 33,000 teaching positions.

State Board of Education member Claude Hartley told legislative budget writers Tuesday that losing teachers can mean larger class sizes, which can affect the quality of education.

The 705 job losses are for teachers whose contracts were not renewed.

The numbers don't include teaching jobs that are open because someone retired and a position wasn't filled.

The state Department of Education says 150 of the 152 school districts responded to its survey about employment levels. Agricultural high schools in Hinds and Coahoma counties did not respond.

SH