The Chicago Public Schools have notified around 1,500 teachers and staff that they have been laid off amid a previously announced $200 million budget cut and shift in enrollment.
CPS recently publicized its $5.7 billion 2016 budget, which comprises a remarkable budget deficit worth $1.1 billion propelled by pension payments that are growing rapidly.
The school system states that the layoff will affect a total of 479 teachers and 1,012 school staff members out of 41,500 employees, according to Reuters.
CPS history teacher Allison Valentine was among the teachers who received notice on Monday that they have been laid off, which has left her feeling "total shock," and it's made all the more shocking since enrollment is expected to pour in at the Marine Leadership Academy, the school where she works.
Valentine is still hoping that the school will find a way to get her job back. "And I knew the influx of freshmen coming in that was projected - that we would actually need an extra history teacher and not lose one," she said, according to My FOX Chicago.
CPS officials say that the number of layoffs was less than any other point in the past five years. There were 550 teacher layoffs last year and more than 1,000 in 2013.
The teachers who were laid off, however, can still apply for roughly 1,400 positions that will be available for the upcoming school year, according to CBS Chicago.