Business

Major sector gets hit with surprising job cuts

By Aparajita Chatterjee TheStreet

Updated June 7, 2026 12:56 PM

School layoffs are spreading across California, and the cuts are no longer limited to one campus, one school district, or one type of employer in the education sector.

Recent WARN notices filed with state officials, reviewed by TheStreet, show hundreds of education-related workers are losing their jobs across charter schools, private nonprofit school programs, and after-school services.

The cuts come as California schools face a tougher operating climate shaped by falling enrollment, budget uncertainty, and broader pressure on school staffing.

The notices do not all point to the same cause.

But together they show how pressure in education can ripple beyond classroom teachers and reach aides, counselors, child care providers, after-school workers, health staff, operations employees, and administrators.

California school operators cut hundreds of jobs

The Primary School will close all locations

The largest recent example is The Primary School, a tuition-free, nonprofit private school with ties to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

The school said in a public message that, "after much deliberation," its schools in East Palo Alto and the East Bay would close at the end of the 2025-26 school year.

The organization said the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative would invest $50 million over the next few years in East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and East Bay communities to support students and families through the transition.

Jean-Claude Brizard, The Primary School Board Chair, noted in an official statement that the school's partners in the "Ravenswood City School District and the East Palo Alto, Belle Haven, and East Bay communities will work to ensure our students and families are cared for."

More Layoffs:

While thanking the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for its continued commitment towards early education and healthcare.

A revised WARN notice filed with California says The Primary School is closing all three of its California locations in East Palo Alto and San Leandro.

The notice says separations will occur over a 92-day period, from June 30 to Sept. 30, 2026.

After Sept. 30, the notice says, The Primary School will "entirely cease operations" and have no further employees.

The job cuts affect 147 workers, according to the notice.

The affected roles include lead teachers, associate teachers, assistant teachers, child care providers, parent wellness coaches, special education staff, a speech-language pathologist, health staff, operations employees, data workers, and senior leaders.

Falling enrollments are a big concern for schools.

Catherine Delahaye / Getty Images

Santa Maria Valley YMCA lays off workers across school programs

Another major cut is hitting after-school programs.

The Santa Maria Valley YMCA said in a WARN notice that it had participated in a competitive request-for-proposal process for after-school program services with the Santa Maria Bonita School District.

As a result of the RFP outcome, the YMCA said it was not awarded the same number of school sites and would "substantially reduce its operations" through a permanent mass layoff.

The YMCA notice says the action will affect 137 employees.

The affected roles include 97 assistant program leads, 17 assistant site leads, 17 designated second leads, five assistant program specialists, and one program specialist.

The YMCA said the affected employees are in the after-school program and that some work at school sites listed in the notice.

Those sites include elementary and junior high schools in Santa Maria, California.

The expected date of separation is June 9, 2026, or within 14 days thereafter.

Alliance College-Ready Schools are laying off staff in multiple locations

In Los Angeles County, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools also notified California officials that it would permanently reduce its workforce across various school sites.

Alliance's WARN notice states that 62 employees will be affected, with separations beginning and being completed on June 30, 2026.

The affected sites include multiple Alliance schools in Los Angeles and Huntington Park.

The jobs listed in the notice show how school cuts can reach across campus operations.

The affected roles include teachers, instructional aides, special education aides, counselors, psychologists, social workers, custodians, campus aides, athletic coaches, college and career specialists, directors of instruction, and home-office roles.

Falling enrollment adds pressure

The California WARN notices stand against a broader backdrop of shrinking student enrollment.

California's Department of Finance says the state experienced its eighth consecutive decrease in total public K-12 enrollment in the 2024-25 school year, with enrollment falling by 31,500 students to 5.8 million.

The department projects another decline of 586,500 students over the next decade if current fertility and migration trends continue.

That matters because school funding and staffing needs are closely tied to student counts.

When fewer students are enrolled, schools and education providers can face tougher choices about staffing, programs, and facilities.

Declining enrollment not limited to California

A Chalkbeat analysis found that more than half of the country's 50 largest school districts are either poised to make cuts, have already made cuts, or are facing a reported deficit.

Nearly 30 of those districts recently cited declining enrollment.

Chalkbeat noted that lower enrollment can make it harder for districts to keep up with rising costs, since most districts are funded based on the number of students they have.

The end of federal pandemic relief money has also added pressure.

Some districts still have employees and programs that were once funded by that temporary aid, leaving school leaders to decide what can continue without the same level of support.

California's own funding picture is complicated.

The state is not describing its education budget as a collapse.

California's 2026-27 budget summary says TK-12 per-pupil funding would reach $20,427 in Proposition 98 General Fund and $27,418 per pupil when all funding sources are included, which the state calls the highest level ever for California schools.

But that does not mean every district, school, or education-related provider is insulated from cuts.

Proposition 98, California's constitutional school-funding guarantee, is calculated using several factors, including General Fund revenues, per-capita personal income, and school attendance.

That makes enrollment trends important. When student counts fall, schools can face pressure to adjust staffing, programs, or campuses, even if statewide per-pupil funding rises.

Meanwhile, the California Teachers Association said in April that more than 100 California school districts had issued at least 2,400 preliminary layoff notices in CTA-represented districts.

The union noted that districts issue preliminary layoff notices by March 15, with the notices either rescinded or finalized by May 15, meaning the figure is not the same as the final number of layoffs.

These preliminary notices are often the result of budget inconsistencies.

Cuts go beyond classrooms

The three WARN notices show why education layoffs can have a broader impact than families may immediately realize.

That matters because schools increasingly rely on a network of workers beyond traditional classroom teachers.

Counselors and social workers help support student mental health. Aides and interventionists help students who need additional academic or behavioral support. After-school workers help families cover the gap between the end of the school day and the end of the workday.

For workers, the notices point to another unstable corner of the labor market.

Education has long been viewed as a relatively steady source of employment, but declining enrollment and budget uncertainty are forcing some school systems and service providers to rethink staffing.

The notices do not prove that every educational employer is cutting jobs for the same reason.

But they show that job losses are spreading across the school ecosystem at a time when schools are already confronting enrollment declines, rising costs, and difficult budget decisions.

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This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 12:37 PM.