Teacherpocalypse Reduced
There will be layoffs. They will number in the tens of thousands. But don’t be surprised if you start seeing a lot more stories like these:
* Maine – “Some Maine districts are making cuts in areas where staffing hasn’t been reduced in keeping with falling enrollments. Portland voters approved an $89.9 million school budget for the coming year that cuts 45 positions, including several special education jobs that exceeded recommended staffing levels.
“The statewide public school population has dropped from 250,000 students in the early 1970s to 189,000 students today, said David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Maine Department of Education.
“At the same time, the number of public school employees grew through 2007-08 and now stands at 38,000, said Jim Rier, finance and operations director at the state department.
“That means Maine schools have an average of one employee for every five students, and one teacher for every nine students — the lowest teacher-student ratio in the nation, according to state education officials.”
* Elgin, Illinois – “School District U46 plans to call back more laid-off teachers this week before the school year ends, district officials say.
“Over the past few weeks, the district has been calling back the first 200 teachers on its layoff list of 732 teachers. This week, the district started working on the next 100 teachers.”
* Turlock, California – “All school district employees will take a two percent salary and benefits reduction that will allow the TUSD to rescind all but four of the pink slips they handed out to teachers in March.
“The TUSD Board of Trustees approved to rescind 72 of the 76 pink slips for certificated employees at their Tuesday meeting, along with rescinding the majority of pink slips for classified employees.”
* And this, from the Twitter page of Washington Post reporter Nick Anderson - ”A few tidbits on Calif. schools that didn’t make today’s layoff story. 1) Layoffs there feel like half of dire threat. Maybe 15-20k”
