After announcing in the spring that it would need to cut about 170 positions to balance its budget, Roanoke City Public Schools cut 148 jobs ahead of this school year.
Of those positions, 64 were teachers, spread across all 24 of the city’s schools. About 21 positions in the central office were among the cuts, which varied from a half-time accountant position and a director of career and technical education to a special education Medicaid coordinator, an English learner instructor and more than five custodians.
The cuts came as Roanoke city schools worked to balance a $14 million deficit in the fiscal year 2027 budget. Seven additional positions were moved out of the general budget to be paid for by grants dependent on available funding — including three student support specialists.
Of the eliminated positions, 66 were filled at the time they were eliminated, spokesperson Claire Mitzel said. The remaining positions were vacant.
Some of the people who lost their jobs have also been recalled to fill other vacancies that have arisen separately from the budget cuts.
For example, nine teaching positions were cut at William Fleming High School. But three teachers, including two physical education teachers and a Spanish teacher, were called back as positions that remained in the budget opened this summer, said Principal Tracey Anderson.
As of Aug. 20, 13 employees whose jobs were eliminated have been recalled, Mitzel said.
The eliminated positions come as the division grapples with the city council’s decision to change its school funding formula by reducing the school’s share of local tax revenue growth.
In addition to cutting positions, the school division also reduced spring activity buses, the preschool program and the elementary gifted program, among other operational cuts.
Roanoke City Public Schools is among many school divisions across the state and nationwide experiencing budget cuts and even layoffs due to declining enrollment and financial woes.
Cuts like these haven’t happened since the 2008 recession, Mitzel said.
“This is all new for all of us, and we are continuing to try to make the very best decisions looking across the entire organization,” Mitzel said.
Every school in the division experienced cuts, but some saw more than others. Fleming lost nine teachers out of 14 total cuts, and Round Hill Elementary lost six teachers as part of 10 total cuts, according to data obtained by Cardinal News through the Freedom of Information Act.
Crystal Spring, Morningside and Wasena Elementary schools didn’t lose any teachers and saw seven cuts total across the three schools, including a librarian at Crystal Spring, an assistant principal at Morningside and five teaching assistants. And James P. Fishwick Middle School had no cuts, according to data provided by the division.
The reasoning behind those decisions and their connection to enrollment remains unclear in many cases. Division officials did not specify which positions were eliminated due to enrollment challenges — something that Mitzel said is constantly evolving throughout the year.
The Virginia Department of Education lays out and enforces staffing requirements primarily through the Standards of Quality, or SOQs. These guidelines govern class sizes and require a certain number of teachers based on student enrollment, though schools often might employ more than the minimum number of teachers or other positions based on locally determined needs.
If the number of students enrolled at a school or in a division declines, the number of teachers required might, too, but those types of staffing changes are separate from the budget cuts made earlier this year, Mitzel said.
“That’s really independent of the budget conversation and could even change mid-year,” Mitzel said. “It is very normal every single year as we are planning out our classes based on enrollment.”
Due to the cuts, some schools are now sharing positions. Those decisions were not solely a consequence of budget cuts but also based on enrollment, Mitzel said.
She said some of the division’s smaller elementary schools are sharing an assistant principal and some elective teachers may be working across schools, such as a theater teacher being shared between the division’s two high schools.
“When it came time to make these hard decisions, the SOQs guided a lot of this work,” she said. “We are still within the SOQs.”
In some cases, instructors are moved around to even out the number of students teachers are working with.
Anderson echoed Mitzel and said the cuts at Fleming High were made in part due to enrollment.
Anderson said the division looked at upcoming student enrollment and class sizes to determine what positions would be eliminated.
She added that Fleming had been previously allocated additional teachers for some subjects in an effort to reduce class sizes, beyond state requirements.
“In our math classes, science classes, because of labs and things of that nature, we want to, if we can, reduce that class size, because we know if the class is smaller, then it gives students more opportunities to respond and more opportunities to work with the teacher,” she said. “So, when the school board gave those additional positions, they gave me one for each content area, which was great because then that allowed us some more flexibility with making those classes smaller.”
Superintendent Verletta White said the division did its best to prevent cuts from negatively affecting students and “to protect” classrooms. In addition to the 64 eliminated teaching positions, another 37 were teaching or instructional assistants who typically work with teachers in the classroom or in small groups with students.
“We know that with our budget cuts, we unfortunately have fewer staff members this year than what we had last year. But we’ve done our very best to protect our classrooms,” White said during a media briefing on the first day of school. “We know that some of the central support that our schools have had, that we don’t have as many of those. So I’m sure that our schools will feel that.”
Schools also grappling with vacancies
As of the first day of school, the division had 127 vacancies: 51 administrative or professional positions, which include school leaders and certified educators, and 76 classified positions, which can include custodians, school security officers and instructional assistants.
Of those classified positions, 64 vacancies are for instructional assistants, which is on trend with what the division usually sees in the fall; an Oct. 1, 2025, vacancy report obtained from the division lists 87 vacancies of classified positions.
Anderson said these types of staffing challenges are par for the course. She’s worked for Roanoke city schools for more than 30 years and has been principal at Fleming since 2021, and last year was the first time the high school was fully staffed.
“I was holding my breath, thinking ‘Wow, this is amazing.’ You know, it can happen, but again, people get married, they have children, and so you have natural openings that just occur, and you have to fill those areas. And we want to make sure in filling them that we find the best people that we can,” Anderson said.
In addition to the positions she lost as part of the budget cuts, Fleming currently has multiple vacancies including two math teacher positions, two special education positions, a school nurse, a counselor and a part-time security position.
But it can be hard to find people qualified for high school-level math and science roles.
During the 2025-26 school year, the overall teacher vacancy rate for the state was 2.5%, according to the data from the Virginia Department of Education, but for math it was 3.8%. Special education was even higher with a 4.9% vacancy rate statewide.
“We are diligent and looking and trying to find people that know how to work with our students to build those relationships while having the certification that can teach our students what they need to learn,” Anderson said.
Overall, the division’s teacher vacancy rate was less than 2% as of the first day of school, White announced at a school board meeting on Aug. 11.
