CENTRE — According to Cherokee County Superintendent of Schools Brian Johnson, over half the 28 teachers whose jobs were cut last month in response to Alabama’s ever-dwindling education budget will likely be rehired next month.

Johnson also told The Post it appears as though the Board of Education will be able to bring back six of the 10 support personnel who were let go. The Post reported on the budget cuts May 25.

“We play to use additional cost-saving measures and try every way we can to call back as many employees as possible,” Johnson said. “Those efforts are ongoing.”

A preliminary plan for rehiring the 23 employees was worked out at the Board’s June 21 meeting.

Johnson said it was painful to cut so many positions before the end of the school year. But he said it was necessary because legislators in Montgomery didn’t pass a new education budget until their last day on the job.

“We didn’t know what we were going to have to spend until the Legislature passed the new education budget,” he said.

 Last month, Johnson explained that he and the Board were forced to cut the positions because employees who remain on the payroll through the end of the school year are automatically considered to be rehired.

The education budget that passed on the final day of the 2011 regular session will spend $5.59 billion from the Education Trust Fund, an increase of $240.7 million (4.5 percent) from this year. The proposed increase in spending will not make up for the loss of around $463 million in one-time federal stimulus money that supplemented trust fund spending this year.

Since 2007, public schools in Alabama have seen their budgets slashed by nearly 25 percent because declining tax revenues caused by the recession and resulting sluggish economy.

Johnson declined to provide a list of the names of employees who will be going back to work later this summer. 

“We’re still getting in touch with some of them, and nothing will be official until our July 5 meeting,” he said.