Layoffs tend to shaft low-income students
Editorial/The Bakersfield Californian
The Los Angeles Unified School District is facing a lawsuit that alleges its teacher layoffs constitute a violation of inner-city students' constitutional rights to an education. Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union say layoffs have disproportionately affected schools that serve poorer students, because the most vulnerable teachers -- those with the least experience -- are also the teachers most likely to work at such schools. As a result, poorer, inner-city students experience less of the vital classroom continuity that students at schools serving more prosperous neighborhoods routinely enjoy. An analysis of the Bakersfield City School District's recently announced layoffs suggests that much the same thing is going on here, in California's largest K-8 district. (more...)