Monday night was the first of three scheduled workshops the Bay County School Board members will be participating in this week. They tackled a couple big issues and had a large turnout from the public.

School officials are now saying 137 annual contract teachers may not have a job next year. That's down slightly from the number they originally gave, which was 155, but teachers and administrators in all of the schools might be moved to other areas if they change the unit allocation formula, which determines student to teacher ratio.

The changes are very detailed and differ between elementary, middle and high school, but here are some of the highlights.

In the elementary schools, assistant principals will only be funded for populations more than 600. They are doing away with the administrative assistant position.

For the middle schools, they are raising the ratio for administrative assistants, so schools with an enrollment of 750 students will get one; 1,000 students would give them a second.

A similar change is proposed for the high schools. Superintendent McCalister won't say which schools will lose administrators, but it's obvious the smaller schools will be most affected. Some people voiced concerns about schools losing administrative assistants at the middle school level.

"All is said and done. Middle school is very tough and it's putting more pressure on our teachers who have to teach and not keep with students, and I think it's going to be a very negative effect," said one concerned parent.

"We've got to do the best we can and we've got to find the money somewhere and in order to reach into the classroom. Unfortunately this is a place that we will not be reaching into the classroom," said Ginger Littleton, school board member.

Along with the unit allocation formula, some magnet schools in the county will be taking a huge hit. Superintendent McCalister is proposing a change in student to teacher ratio for the magnet school programs.

Last year the elementary schools had one magnet school teacher per 250 students. McCalister wants to change that to one teacher per 650 students. That same ratio would apply to middle and high school as well.

Board member Pat Sabiston says Oakland Terrace, Jinks Middle School and Bay High will likely take the hit from this cut, and she's not pleased.

"The magnet was to give them something to hang their hat on, and because of choice they have lost students, and we're in the middle of Mr. Merkle's committee trying to address that issue, but I just think this is horribly unfair," said Pat Sabiston, a school board member.

Another area taking a hit is exceptional student education funding, which will be cut approximately $740,000. Currently Bay County is providing one teacher for every 13 ESE students. That's compared to a 20-to-1 ratio statewide, but opinions are also divided as to whether ESE is an area that can handle a large hit.

"The student-teacher ratio in exceptional education is probably affected by the ratio of severe and profound students here in Bay County, which may not be the same as statewide," said Doug Merkle, a Bay County resident.

"I will tell you that as you go to MKL, you go to St. Andrews. I don't want that ratio to 1 to 20. I don't think that our students will get what they need with that. Also, the autism classes that we have. So as we look at this, of course, everyone has to take their cut and I'm not saying ESE doesn't need to take their cut. I'm not saying that that budget is larger than it needs to be, but I am sure that we are going to make sure we are under federal guidelines and make sure we are doing what we need to for those students in those severe situations," said Donna Allen, a school board member.

Obviously the list of budget cuts is extensive and that's only a small portion of it.

Tuesday the board will began discussing re-purposing and closing some schools and possibly reduce the number of school resource officers in the high schools. They'll also look at the district's transportation budget. Next year they could switch middle and elementary start times so that middle and high school students will share buses.