Tonight, the Toronto District School Board will decide how many teachers, administrators & support staff to keep on payroll next school year.

Trustees will vote on a series of recommendations from staff that include cutting hundreds of jobs in some spots & adding hundreds in others.

Board spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz says "when you only have "x" amount of dollars, you need to put it in the right places." She says staffing costs represent 3/4 of the TDSB budget.

Declining enrolment is behind a recommendation to eliminate 248 high school teachers, plus some guidance counsellors, secretaries & vice principals.

The move is expected to save the board between $25 & $27-million as they stare down a deficit of $55-million.

While the TDSB expects to have 2, 400 fewer high school students next school year, a bump in enrolment at their elementary schools is fuelling a proposed hiring spree.  Staff is recommending taking on 62 more elementary teachers & 338 Early Childhood Educators because of the growth, mostly in all-day kindergarten.

Trustees will tackle the rest of the TDSB budget in June.