Seminole County teachers cut for next year: an estimated 205 teachers, staff

Seminole County Public Schools began notifying teachers this week that their contracts are being canceled for next year, effectively laying them off – although district officials are unable to say exactly how many teachers are being let go. 

SCPS is facing a $26.4 million budget deficit for the 2026-27 school year because of a projected 2,000 student drop in enrollment, as birth rates decline and more students use state vouchers for private school. The district is planning to cut 281 positions, including 205 teachers and support staff, and an additional 76 district-level positions. 

School officials said they would try to handle the job cuts through attrition and not filling open positions. But teachers began getting notices this week that their contracts would not be renewed for the 2026-27 school year. 

“I have teachers who were rated highly effective told today they aren’t coming back next year,” said Thomas Bugos, the president of the Seminole Education Association, the union that represents teachers. 

Bugos said he was initially told only teachers who had temporary certifications or who had made no progress toward getting fully certified would get the non-renewals. That does not appear to be the case, he said. 

“(The District) is changing their story,” Bugos said. “We’re losing good teachers.”

Teachers are employed with annual contracts, and a non-renewal means that a teacher currently employed will not be back for the upcoming school year. It’s technically not a firing or a layoff, though, since it’s done through an annual contract, so teachers aren’t eligible for benefits like severance or unemployment. 

Sources, who didn’t want to be identified for fear of reprisals from the school district, told Oviedo Community News that Winter Springs High School will get non-renewal notices by the end of this week. Sources said cuts to Oviedo High School teachers could come sooner. Learn about OCN’s ethics policy concerning anonymous sources here. 

Seminole County Public Schools spokeswoman Katherine Crnkovich did not answer phone calls asking how many teachers were getting non-renewals. In an emailed response, she could not say how many teachers were getting notices, or whether those who were getting non-renewals were certified teachers. Crnkovich, who is the district’s public information officer, has not returned a call from OCN in several months, responding only through email. 

“That is a public records request as I do not have access to that data,” Crnkovich wrote in an email. She did not answer followup questions.

Even after the staffing cuts, the school district will face an annual loss of $3 million per year, unless further cuts are made. That means the school district could only last about three years before risking a state takeover of the school board, which has happened to Union and Glades counties, which are both in an emergency situation where the Department of Education is going to be supervising their operations. That means district officials can’t make hiring and spending decisions, and a state oversight board would be appointed to manage the finances. 

And that’s led the district to look at cutting other budgets, including costs for travel and substitute teachers. That led to a recent uproar of the district denying out-of-state travel requests for student groups that were budget neutral.

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Parents still concerned about SCPS travel ban, even as some trips get reevaluated 

For Oviedo High School junior Delaney Sloane, 2025 was a big year. 

The varsity girls volleyball team won the state championship in 2025, and the squad was invited to travel to Hawaii to compete in a tournament. But Seminole County Public Schools initially denied the team’s travel request: Even though the team raised enough funds to ensure all students would be able to go – even those who couldn’t afford to travel – and to cover the school district’s costs for substitute teachers needed to cover the teachers going on the trip. 

“We were given the chance to challenge ourselves against the best and represent our school and our county proudly,” Sloane told the school board last week. “Fingers crossed, we’ll bring home another (championship) ring next year. But that will only be done by competing at the top level. That’s exactly what this tournament provides to us.”

Video by Julia Ross

On March 23, Seminole County Public Schools Assistant Superintendent of High Schools Mike Rice sent an email to all the high school principals, reading: “Due to budgetary considerations, all out-of-state/overnight trips starting this summer will not be approved,” the email reads. “If there are special considerations that need to be made, please communicate first with me prior to teachers/staff completing an out-of-state/overnight trip packet.”

The school district walked back that policy after hearing from angry parents and students. The school board last week gave the superintendent more leeway in approving the field trips. 

Delaney’s mother Tara Sloane also talked to the board, saying her three kids went to private school through eighth grade, and then went to Oviedo High School for their final four years. She said families deciding whether to go from public schools to private schools, or deciding whether to leave the public school system, are asking one simple question. 

“Are you making these decisions in the best interest of my student, or are there political and bureaucratic implications that are shaping and forming your policy?” Tara Sloane said. “This is a mess. There was no transparency. There is contradiction everywhere. There is conflict everywhere. And parents simply don’t trust you.”

The Oviedo High School volleyball trip to Hawaii is one of two out-of-state trips being reevaluated in the wake of last week’s meeting. Hagerty High School’s girls varsity volleyball team has an invitation to play in the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, Arizona in October of 2026. 

“For us it’s great – I just hope no one else runs into this confusion and frustration,” Tara Sloane said. “We’re just hopeful there’s a clear, transparent, objective process.” 

Both requests should now come to the board next month for approvals. 

“As far as the trips you mentioned, both were reconsidered,” spokesperson Crnkovovich said. “They are in the approval process at this time.”

The issue bubbled over online, with Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek posting last Friday that people still needed to put pressure on the superintendent and school board.

“There’s no pressure needed,” school board member Autumn Garick commented on the post. “Superintendent Beamon reached out to (Oviedo High School) yesterday. The volleyball trip is on and the (out-of-state) overnight field trip approval is being revamped for simplicity and clarity.”

Sladek fired back. 

“I’ll believe it when I see it in writing,” Sladek wrote. “And happening equally to everyone. Just because Oviedo stormed the Bastille and got a verbal promise of approval for one field trip doesn’t mean all is well.”

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