Layoffs a possibility for city schools

Commerce Schools Superintendent James “Mac” McCoy presented the gloomy scenario to the Commerce Board of Education at its April 1 work session.

“I’m not ready to say that that’s what we’re going to have to do to the extreme, but it is a reality that that is what we’re faced with right now — that we will have to eliminate positions,” McCoy said.

If comes to layoffs, McCoy isn’t certain at this point how many jobs would be cut. But it is certain that trimming of the budget in some form is imminent.

The school system will only generate an estimated $10.98 million in revenue in 2010-2011, while McCoy projects that it will cost about $12 million to run the school system.

That leaves the system with a deficit of just over $1 million.