Layoffs are hitting teachers nationwide, with no end coming anytime soon.
School districts around the United States have been struggling with declining student enrollment, inflation-related budget challenges, and the winding down of federal taxpayer spending related to COVID-19 relief, according to K-12 Dive.
School districts in California, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Texas are dealing with budget cuts, making layoffs more likely.
The San Diego Unified School District announced plans in March to cut over 220 full-time positions. Meanwhile, Public Schools of Brookline in Massachusetts are considering cutting all elementary foreign language teachers, four elementary literacy coaches, and half of the system’s technology specialists. Cuts are also expected in parts of Oregon at the campus level and administration.
Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, is anticipating an increase in teacher layoffs over the next couple of years.
“When the [Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund] money came, it basically provided a stay of execution in the sense that there’s all this extra money, so you didn’t need to do the shrinking, right now, of your system,” Roza told K-12 Dive. But now districts “have to do the last four years of shrinking all at once instead of doing it gradually year by year. In fact, some of them, instead of shrinking, hired new people. So it’s kind of a double whammy.”
Are they at least getting rid of the lowest performing first?! The ones that can’t be fired due to union protection…!!!
Most of them need to be fired!