Benton School District 47 is reducing its staff because of continued cuts in state funding.
The Board of Education voted to layoff ten teachers and ten paraprofessionals after the district lost nearly two million dollars in state funding over the past four years.
Franklin-Williamson regional school superintendent Matt Donkin says Benton is doing what all districts are being forced to consider in these tough financial times.
"District 47 has simply been in better financial shape leading up to this point, and now, even those districts that have been in good financial shape for the past several years are now to the point that they've run through reserves and have to make staffing cuts."
Donkin says the situation figures to get even worse with more state funding cuts likely for the next fiscal year.
He says this is the time of year when school districts are required to let staff know about their personnel plans for the 2015-16 academic year.