History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Outrage over teacher unemployment
- 05-25-2010
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Blog by Walt Gardner/Education Week (subscription required)
Once eagerly awaited as a time of relaxation, summer this year for as many as 150,000 teachers nationwide will be a season of angst. That's because the recession has forced districts to issue pink slips even to teachers in once hard-to-fill subjects such as special education, chemistry, physics and math. The desperation is seen in the lopsided ratio of applicants to openings. This imbalance applies to traditional public schools as well as to charter schools. Recognizing the implications, the U.S. Senate has a pending bill aptly titled Keep Our Educators Working Act. The best estimate is that it will take at least $23 billion to avoid an educational catastrophe in the fall. As Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, argued in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal: "The federal government didn't let Wall Street fail. Why would we do less for our public schools, which undeniably are too important to fail?" ("Public Schools Need a Bailout," May 20). (more...)
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