Michelle Manchir/TribLocal reporter

Some class sizes could increase slightly at Valley View School District next month since 18 teachers won’t be returning to classrooms this fall.

 As the district battles a budget deficit and waits on millions of promised dollars from the state, the school board has approved ways – including laying off eight teachers and not replacing 10 who retired – to trim about $13.5 million out of the district’s budget for the next school year, said Larry Randa, spokesman for the district.

Six teaching positions in each education level districtwide – elementary, junior and high school – have been eliminated. The district serves more than 18,000 students in Bolingbrook, Romeoville and parts of Plainfield.

Some elementary, junior high and high school classes could see an increase of one student, from 23 to 24 pupils in the lower grades to more than 25 in high school, according to projected enrollment numbers from the district.

Teachers with the least experience were cut first, as required by the district’s contractual obligations with unions, Randa said.

Those union agreements are also why 157 teachers in the district got pink slips earlier this year, but 144 were called back to teach. Under the contract, all teachers who have the same level of experience must be on the chopping block at the same time.

Randa said the school board took into account enrollment to determine which schools would get the cuts.

The layoffs are part of a statewide trend as the state legislature finds ways to deal with Illinois’ billion-dollar budget deficit, leaving schools and non-profit groups around the state behind on their bills.

Some school districts have been forced to cut hundreds of teachers, said Dave Comerford, a spokesman for the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

“When you’re laying off teachers, you’re either increasing class sizes or cutting programs,” Comerford said. “Those are all important things to students in education.”

Meanwhile, as the Valley View school board continues to trim its $220 million district budget, it also approved salary freezes for the districts’ top positions – including that of Superintendent Phillip Schoffstall, who in 2009 earned $245,744, according to district records.