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Albany schools to cut seven teaching positions

By ANYA TUCKER

ALBANY -- The Albany City School District is making cuts in seven teaching positions.

The cuts will affect four of Albany's elementary and middle schools, but no teacher will be out of a job; rather they will be moved to other positions in the district.

But their classrooms will need to be consolidated.

Losing students to charter and other private schools is the reason behind the cuts.

This may just be the beginning.     

Ron Lesko of the Albany City School District says, "Every program will be looked at. We need to take it all very seriously."

Students aren't all these schools are losing. Here's a closer look at just how the numbers break down when it comes to public school funding.

The Albany City School District estimates that it lost about 100 students this year, with most of them going to charter schools.

The school gets funding of about $12,000 per student when they're enrolled in the Albany district. When they go to the charter school, roughly two thirds of that money--or $8,000--goes to the charter school. Meanwhile, the rest--about $4,000--goes to the district the student came from.