Dominos are beginning to fall at area school districts. 

The Winchester School Board last night voted to let three teachers go thanks to uncertainty with some of the district’s state-funded grants. Superintendent Dave Roberts says he hopes to re-employ the teachers by the summer, but admits its likely more cuts are coming that won’t involve personnel changes.

Those changes will be discussed at the board’s April meeting. The three employees affected teach kindergarten, fourth grade and fifth grade in Winchester. Roberts says the district has $2 million put away in its rainy day fund for economic dips like this.

Roberts expects more area school boards to make similar decisions this month.

The Winchester cuts come the same week that Carrollton’s athletic programs took a financial hit. Superintendent Beth Pressler tells the Alton Telegraph that student athletes and those taking part in other extracurricular activities at Carrollton schools will now have to find their own way to practices and activities.