Twenty-one Wareham Public Schools teachers have been told they won't have a job as of June 15.

The School Department is required to give teachers notice at the end of the school year if their positions will be cut for the next year. Though Town Meeting voters in April helped move along a Proposition 2½ override that, if passed at a town-wide election ballot, would save teaching positions, the Board of Selectmen — the only entity that can place an override on a ballot — has not yet discussed the matter.

The School Committee is scheduled to meet with the Selectmen at the board's June 12 meeting.

Wareham Education Association President Chris Mars told the School Committee on May 23 just what those cuts — announced earlier in the week — would mean for the the school system.

"These past few days in the schools have been what I would term 'devastating,'" said Mars, speaking during the "public participation" portion of the meeting. She noted that in her 29 years with the district, she's never experienced "such devastation."

Mars continued: "Teachers who came to Wareham, young and old, veterans and novices, are being told they aren't needed to work with our students. There aren't enough funds to keep them."

The teachers' union president asked the School Committee and voters at large to "petition the Board of Selectmen to place the debt exclusion and override initiative on the ballot."

In addition to the override, which would raise property taxes above the annual 2½ percent cap indefinitely, the School Department proposed four debt exclusions that would raise taxes for a fixed amount of time to pay for specific projects, such as building repairs, textbooks, and technology.

"We need to take a stand and really invest in our schools. We must support quality education. There's so much to be done. We must be proactive instead of merely providing the minimum," Mars said. "We cannot graduate students who are college- and career-ready unless we change our course. Stop sending a message that our teachers [and] programs don't matter, that our students don't matter."

Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch said the owner of a median-assessed, $230,000 home, would be charged approximately $50 per year for the override; funding all of the overrides would cost a median-assessed homeowner approximately $20 for five years, at which point the increased tax would go away.

Mars described what would happen without the override, including increased class sizes and cuts to programs such as physical education, health, art, music, foreign language, and business. Sports is also on the chopping block.

"We've worked with less for years. Fewer books, less supplies and materials, and we have lost teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators. We must stem this tide," said Mars, later adding: "We are shortchanging our children."

School Committee Chair Geoff Swett encouraged residents to attend the Selectmen meeting on June 12 and "show their support."

If the Selectmen agree to put the override and four debt exclusions on a ballot, it is unclear when that election would take place.

Rabinovitch explained that the town would not be able to wait for the state primary election in September because, due to statute, only three questions may appear on a state primary ballot. There will be five questions — one for each proposed Proposition 2½ measure.

A special election is estimated to cost around $14,000, school officials explained.

Each week the teachers go unemployed, the town must pay $5,000 for unemployment, Rabinovitch said, though he noted that it is unclear whether the teachers can start collecting in June or whether they'll have to apply in September, as teachers receive five paychecks at the end of the school year to cover the summer months.

If a special election can take place over the summer and the override is approved, Rabinovitch said the district could begin rehiring the laid-off teachers in the beginning of August.

A previous version of this story said that 24 teachers had received notice that they would be laid off. The total number of positions cut is 21.5, which includes one custodian, according to Superintendent Dr. Barry Rabinovitch. Other positions are simply not being filled.