CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Hundreds of laid-off Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teachers will be able to re-apply for their jobs after the school district found out it will receive more money from the state than administrators had anticipated.

Superintendent Peter Gorman said the district fired several hundred teachers in a worst-case budget scenario. But when the state decided to raise taxes to raise more money in passing the state budget, CMS’s budget crisis eased.

CMS leaders said they'll work all weekend inside the Education Center drawing up specific plans for re-hiring some of the laid-off teachers. They hope to have those positions posted to the CMS Web site next week.

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• RAW VIDEO: Gorman Discusses Brighter Budget Outlook
• LINK: Letter From Superintendent Peter Gorman To CMS Employees

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It's the first remotely positive news for hundreds of teachers laid off from classroom positions since spring.

“We're going to be in a position right now where some people who got a layoff notices are going to have the ability to apply to come back to work,” Gorman said.

First Gorman has to present a final and more specific plan to school board members. But already word is spreading among teachers like Delores Maxen, who has seen her math department at West Mecklenburg High School shrink from layoffs.

“If we're getting more math teachers, that's a great thing. It's tough to teach 30-plus students and get them to where they want to go,” she said.

The question remains how many teaching positions will be reopened. At the North Carolina Association of Educators, Don Lloyd is hopeful but not getting his hopes up.

“Until we see that actually happen, we're not going to go out and celebrate. It's early” he said. “(We’ll) believe it when we see it.”

CMS said it's still not sure how many of the more than 600 teaching positions cut can be saved, but Gorman insists it will be a substantial number.

“I think we'll bring a pretty good number of those folks back.. Don't know the final number, but we'll be bringing teachers back, and I'm excited about that,” he said.

School Board Chair Molly Griffin said she's very hopeful teachers will be able to begin applying for jobs after the board meets Tuesday.

Also, one other big issue in the budget has been the possibility of cutting middle school sports. Those programs now appears to be safe.