An estimated 5,500 employees at 120 school districts in the state were recently handed pink slips warning them they may not have jobs next school year, an Arizona Republic survey has found.

About 4,000 of those employees are teachers.

Most school districts have issued layoff notices because they still do not have a state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. They also had to comply with a state law requiring them to tell teachers by April 15 whether their jobs might be cut.

A few districts, such as Mesa Public Schools, also note that they are coping with sharp declines in enrollment. That means they'll get less state funding.

Many district governing boards waited until the last two weeks , hoping that the Legislature and Gov. Jan Brewer would hand them a budget sooner than later.

School district officials and board members said they had to estimate future funding based on conversations with legislators and lobbyists. Districts believe they will receive 10 to 15 percent less state money than the current school year because of a looming $3.3 billion state revenue shortfall. They purposely overestimated the severity of the state cuts as a precaution.

Districts have promised they will try to rehire the laid-off instructors this summer, when they have an official budget.

Consequences

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne has said these preemptive layoffs have spread unnecessary fear.

"It's very damaging to give notices, layoffs, to teachers who they're going to hire back," Horne said.

It's ruining morale, he said, and chasing some qualified teachers out of education, or at least out of the state.

But education groups argue that districts had to take action or risk lawsuits for breaching contracts. The state teachers union, the Arizona Education Association, said the full scope of layoffs is much more dire after conducting its own survey of 36 districts. The teachers union believes up to 10,000 school employees will be out of jobs next year.

"There's no exaggeration," Arizona Education Association spokesman John Hartsell said.

The Legislature in late January "claimed it would cut education by $991 million," Hartsell said.

Schools make up about 43 percent, or $4 billion, of the state budget.

Ways to save

Arizona has a vast spectrum of districts, from the small and rural to the large and urban. Their measures to address the projected deficit vary, from pay cuts to shorter workweeks to furloughs.

Fowler Elementary District in Phoenix didn't issue any layoffs but cut 13 positions through attrition, said Superintendent Marvene Lobato. Chino Valley Unified School District, north of Prescott and Payson, will have a four-day school week.

In Mayer Unified School District, officials said the superintendent has accepted a pay cut to keep teachers on board.

Union input

Some districts have talked with their local union to target cuts. Several, including Paradise Valley Unified School District, decided against renewing agreements with teachers on one-year contracts brokered through phased retirement firms.

The Arizona Education Association argues that those employees, although many have 25 years-plus in education, are just on contract and aren't entitled to jobs that could be taken by younger teachers.

Paradise Valley Unified is not renewing contracts with 300 such retiring teachers.

Horne warned that districts shouldn't cut their most experienced staff. "It's a myth that they have to lay off by seniority," he said.

Contributors to this report were Republic staff members Marissa Belles, Alex Bloom, Derek Cooley, Nicole Ethier, Megan Gordon, Christelle Hobby, Ray Parker, Chelsea Schneider, Eugene Scott and Eric Smith.