Hall County schools Superintendent Will Schofield said he expects the system will be able to rehire about 20 of the 100 teachers who were not offered contracts for the 2009-10 school year.

In early March, the school system informed about 100 teachers they would not be offered contracts for the 2009-10 school year largely due to budget cuts resulting from the recession. The system also overestimated enrollment numbers for this school year and more teachers were hired than needed.

"This is a year we knew we needed to be conservative," Schofield said of teacher contracts for the 2009-10 school year. "Last year, quite honestly, we overshot."

After the school board approved nearly 2,000 teacher and administrator contracts Monday for the upcoming school year, Schofield said the board may be in a position to rehire some of these teachers before August.

Schofield said although it remains unclear how some federal stimulus funds may be spent, he believes the system may use about $600,000 of federal stimulus funds marked for special education to rehire roughly 10 special education teachers for kindergarten through third grade. He said a portion of federal stimulus funds marked for disadvantaged children could also be used to rehire 10 to 15 remedial program teachers.