US warns of "education catastrophe" as up to 300,000 teachers set to lose jobs

www.nytimes.com...

Quote from source:
School districts around the country, forced to resort to drastic money-saving measures, are warning hundreds of thousands of teachers that their jobs may be eliminated in June. The districts have no choice, they say, because their usual sources of revenue - state money and local property taxes - have been hit hard by the recession. In addition, federal stimulus money earmarked for education has been mostly used up this year.

As a result, the 2010-11 school term is shaping up as one of the most austere in the last half century. In addition to teacher layoffs, districts are planning to close schools, cut programs, enlarge classes and shorten the school day, week or year to save money.

"We are doing things and considering options I never thought I'd have to consider," said Peter C. Gorman, superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in North Carolina, who expects to cut 600 of the district's 9,400 teachers this year, after laying off 120 last year. "This may be our new economic reality."

Districts in California have given pink slips to 22,000 teachers. Illinois authorities are predicting 17,000 job cuts in the public schools. And New York has warned nearly 15,000 teachers that their jobs could disappear in June.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan estimated that state budget cuts imperiled 100,000 to 300,000 public school jobs. In an interview on Monday, he said the nation was flirting with "education catastrophe," and urged Congress to approve additional stimulus funds to save school jobs

Are you kidding me?!?

Wall street is handing out millions if not billions in bonuses, the biggest companies are not paying income tax and we are failing in education?

This to me shows the state of everything when there are filthy rich people enjoying the finest of everything and the education system is going down the drain.

Brutal, just brutal. Education is what makes the world run.

I for one think education should be free even in university. How could a country not want a well educated society? You think that is what would be our goal..

Any thoughts?

Pred...

We knew this was coming last year... at least, in the districts I'm familiar with...

While the scramble was on to save as many positions as possible given the budget of '09-'10 it was made very apparent that the fall out would be even worse for '10-'11.

We need more tax cuts for billionaires. It will improve our education system and create jobs.

Check this out if you haven't.

Redistribution of Wealth to the Rich.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is very bad news. Idiocracy here we come!

My cousin and her husband are teachers, i hope they will have jobs. They just got married. I feel really bad for them and they are so stressed about this.

It really is amazing, how much money does the US spend on this F'ing war that we should have no business being involved in. What if we used 10% of the money we spend in producing weapons and put that into schools and education. Good lord. What have we become?

I tend to agree with you on this, although you do have to realize that teachers are public teachers (most of them) and those are jobs that government has to pay for. When you create a government job, in reality, you are making more of a strain to pay for it than the worth of it's creation.

I agree though that education is the top need to establish a great society. I laugh when people try to point out that Education isn't a right.. blah blah blah.. sure it isn't a right, but a hero of the people that constantly point this out (Thomas Jefferson) was a huge advocate of public, free education.

reply to post by David9176

Doubt it. Thing is, Education and Mental Health (or social services in general) are typically always the first to get cut/hit the hardest. It's incredibly frustrating for anyone who lives/works/or is otherwise affected indirectly. Neither are on the priority list, it seems they have never been...

reply to post by LadySkadi

Doubt it. Thing is, Education and Mental Health (or social services in general) are typically always the first to get cut/hit the hardest. It's incredibly frustrating for anyone who lives/works/or is otherwise affected indirectly. Neither are on the priority list, it seems they have never been...

I was being sarcastic. And I agree with you 100 percent. Programs get cut for people...millions lose their jobs and struggle. Yet, DAMNIT, we have to protect the top 400 families who have a worth of 1.5 trillion dollars while the bottom 50 PERCENT are worth 1.6.

400 families compares to 150 MILLION people.

Geezus there is something wrong with this. How can anyone feel this is ok?

If the wealthiest do not start payign in more...the country is done. Country be damned though right?

"We the people"

BS.....it's not we the people.

"FOR THE RICH"

guess what else is bad about these teacher cuts

they will not be able to draw unemployment
those state funds have been exhausted already.
It's plum pitiful. the economy is doomed.
It's only a matter of time.

And something else
the 5 largest banks on wall street made 18.7 billion dollars
in profit the first quarter of 2010.



[edit on 22-4-2010 by boondock-saint]

It's going to be more than jobs ... a lot more. Districts are looking at drastic cuts in programs, increased classroom size, shortening school hours or cutting school days, massive lay offs, etc. Education value and benefit is going to drop in a big way. Many districts are going to try pushing special tax provisions/ballot measures to help fund them (my city just passed two) which increases the burden on an already struggling population... round and round it goes.




[edit on 22-4-2010 by LadySkadi]

This is complete BS. Our govt has billions of dollars being dedicated to secret programs, meanwhile our Children are being left out to dry. Schools and teacher salaries should be one of the last things cut as they are our future. And the ones hardest hit will be the kids who already struggle with school. Ones who have learning disabilities. This country is going to H*** in a handbasket How disheartening.

This is complete BS. Our govt has billions of dollars being dedicated to secret programs, meanwhile our Children are being left out to dry. Schools and teacher salaries should be one of the last things cut as they are our future. And the ones hardest hit will be the kids who already struggle with school. Ones who have learning disabilities. This country is going to H*** in a handbasket How disheartening.

reply to post by David9176


The dumb generations have allowed guberment run a great idea of government into the ground. Our leaders are not the problem.. the ignorant masses are the problem. We have what we deserve.. simply because we continue to elect people to run our lives for us.

You only need structure in a country to make sure no one steps on your toes as you move forward in the journey. Government hand holding campaigns are here to stay because people are too ignorant to see any way else as being better.

Well even if this happens, I doubt most these people will get stupider, their already at minimum intellectual capabilities, it's not like their going to get even more stupid.

Close the schools down Put American Idol and Dancing with the Stars on 24/7, and we have the American Dream!!!

The people in charge of America no longer believe in America. They are now straight-up globalists.

They don't even bother to hide it anymore in their rhetoric and speeches.

The European leaders are even more blatant about it but the US is gaining...fast.

In their hearts or hearts, they see no reason why the average US citizen should live any better than the avarage Mexican, Chinese...or Zambian, for that matter. Just so long as they can keep their personal mountain chalets and Manhattan/Rodeo Drive botiques open, of course.

So what we are seeing is a mass downshift, on every level, of the standards of living (education, health, infrastructure, etc etc) in the developed world to match those in the third world.

But you knew that already, didn't you?

Just you watch. In a few years, they will engineer the media and language so that to argue in favor of maintaining standards in the developed world will become absolutely taboo. To make an arguments in favor of one's own nation will soon become a politically correct no-no like racism, sexism, etc. In fact, its already happening.

This is very disheartening. I am not one for our educations system or schools, I stand for home schooling. But for some, who are uneducated themselves it would be very hard. I tend to go homeschooling because I am the only one I want to be the biggest influence in my children's life, because I know how I want them to act and behave.

But the world has taken that away with the fact that we have to have both parents working in order to function in society. I am lucky enough to make enough money that my wife can stay home and teach our children.

The fact that they are spend a couple hundred billions on the war and that our children are being left out is amazing.

What are people paying taxes for? To simply support the war?

Amazing the stupidity that we have become.

Pred...

The problem has been hit on already once by one person. It's the masses that are stupid. The government is going to continue to make sure there is money for the entitlement programs that keep people of voting age to vote for them.

What really needs to happen is the government needs to be put on a diet. No more increasing entitlement programs no more earmarks, none of it. We need to tax consumption and no longer labor.

The government needs to be shaken up and told look you have this amount of money to deal with every year, you can't spend anymore than what you have. It won't ever happen though, people will have to rebuild this country from the ground up after all is destroyed.

The faltering of education and crowding of schools can only mean that parents must take that much more time to educate themselves, for the sake of passing it on to their children. This kind of forewarning gives time to stock up on classics, education never allowed in school ciriculums these days, and provide a better education than was even possible.

It's easy to speculate why these things happen, it's pretty obvious what's going on imo. The best plan is to figure out what to do about it despite them.

Originally posted by predator0187
What are people paying taxes for? To simply support the war?

well u asked

My mom and her husband are both teachers in VA and are both waiting to hear in June if they will be losing their jobs-- they are going crazy over the waiting. They will lose their new house if they do lose their jobs. i hate this economy

You get a free education in prison anyway.

The rich pay all our taxes -- so it's only fitting they make sure we dumb.

Long live the rich!! Down with education.

First they made me pay property taxes for education.

Then they came for my 50% income tax going to the military.

Finally there was free education for college.

Oh wait -- that's Western socialism.

I forgot I live in the U.S.

Long live the war economy because it's stoopid!!