-Caveat Lector- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/01/education/01LAYO.html April 1, 2003
Mass Layoffs Threatened for Teachers in California By DEAN E. MURPHY LAMEDA, Calif., March 31 — The entire teaching staff, and some administrators, have received pink slips for the next academic year from the Alameda school district, which serves this island city of 75,000 across the bay from San Francisco. No one expects the schools to close in the fall, but the layoff notices, in keeping with a state legal requirement, are an indication of the serious financial troubles haunting California's schools. Not since the economic downturn of the early 1990's have schools here experienced such problems. The pink slips, and those issued to thousands of other teachers across the state this month, also illustrate the mixed — and some say, very worrying — signals being sent to prospective new teachers. California is projected to face years of increasing student enrollment. The state also continues to experience a shortage of teachers, especially in math, science and special education. But now, with the state's budget problems, many districts fear they cannot afford to pay those already in the classroom. After years of trying to encourage people to enter teaching through multimillion-dollar programs, state officials are being accused of undermining their own successes with the threat of widespread layoffs. Many critics fear the consequences will be felt long after the current budget crisis passes, particularly if students entering teaching programs now decide the future looks too risky. "We hear all these things in our school placements, that everyone is getting a pink slip and they are laying off all these first-year teachers," said Sarah Kenley, a graduate student in education at San Francisco State University. "It worries me. I think I just came into the profession at the wrong time." Education and union officials estimate that 25,000 teachers statewide have received layoff notices this month, which are required under state law if school districts are contemplating letting teachers go this summer. It is unclear how many of those teachers will actually lose their jobs because most districts have not yet settled on budgets for next year. Gov. Gray Davis has proposed cutting about $1.6 billion in direct financing for the state's 1,000 school districts, part of his effort to deal with a gaping budget deficit attributed to the high-technology bubble burst and a sluggish economy after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. If the Legislature approves the education cuts, local officials say they will need to increase class sizes, eliminate programs and, unavoidably, let go teachers. They will not know for certain until June, when the state budget is supposed to be approved. Financing for school districts comes primarily from the state and is determined by a complex formula, based on the number of students enrolled and other factors. "The goal was to keep the cuts as far away from the classroom as possible," said Ann Bancroft, a spokeswoman for Mr. Davis's education secretary, Kerry Mazzoni. "Over the past few years, districts were able to raise salaries, in most cases double-digit increases. That's in fact why some districts are needing to lay off teachers: their inability to sustain the level of increases." Alameda went to the extreme and issued pink slips to all 635 of its contract teachers so district officials would have as many options as possible about making cuts, district officials said. Though it is likely that only a small portion of the teaching staff willlose their jobs, the tactic led to protests by teachers outside the district headquarters and prompted the teachers' union to seek a restraining order to block the layoffs. The matter is still in the courts. "The district figured, `They aren't going anywhere, they need the jobs,' so we all got fired," said Gretchen Mackler-Lipow, a high school government teacher and a former president of the teachers' union. "I have been teaching for 32 years and I've never seen anything like it. It is absolutely demoralizing." The district's board has begun public hearings to get suggestions about how to cut about $1.7 million from its $77 million budget. The battle over the cuts, and how many teachers might be affected, has made for some tense moments in a district that narrowly averted a teachers' strike two years ago. But less noticed and perhaps more significant in the long term was another recent announcement by the district. The annual teacher's recruitment fair, scheduled for April, had been canceled. It was a difficult decision, even with the prospect of layoffs. Like many districts across the state, Alameda has spent years trying to attract good teachers, as the state has imposed new academic requirements and the demand for teachers, especially those with credentials and training in math and science, has far outpaced the supply. The district typically hires 60 to 80 new teachers a year just to keep up with attrition. Stepping out of the recruitment scene, even for a year, could make it harder to appeal to teachers down the road. "We want to attract as many new teachers as we can, and we want to be known as a place teachers want to come," said Donna Fletcher, a spokeswoman for the Alameda Unified School District. "But it is an unsettling time. I feel badly for anybody that is entering the profession at the time of this budget crisis." Kris Marubayashi, director of CalTeach, a state-backed teachers' referral and recruitment program, said the organization had been working especially hard in recent weeks to separate the issues of recruitment and layoffs in the minds of teachers, students and the general public. The thousands of pink slips, she said, had rattled nerves and created widespread confusion. She has been encouraging Californians to "take the long-term view" of the state's education needs, she said. Dr. Marubayashi said the basic factors that led the state to declare a teachers' shortage in the 1990's continued to exist today: increasing student enrollment; class-size reduction programs; and a large number of older teachers nearing retirement. "Some of the college students are a little concerned, but we are trying to clarify that it might be rocky the first year out, but the need is going to be there," Dr. Marubayashi said. "The economy goes up and down, and we will weather this." Wayne Johnson, president of the California Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers' union, described the financial troubles as the worst he had ever seen. Mr. Johnson, who began teaching in Los Angeles in 1962, predicted that districts statewide would lay off more teachers this year than any other year in his career. At the same time, though, Mr. Johnson said, many districts will find ways around the harshest measures, by offering early retirement packages and saving money through other means, like increasing class sizes. Meanwhile, some big city districts, like Los Angeles, expected no layoffs and were even hiring this month because of big enrollment increases and state financing for special programs, he said. It was in those places, he said, that new teachers should be looking. Sabrina Wick, 19, of Redlands, Calif., who is studying in San Francisco to become an elementary school teacher, said it was easy to get overwhelmed by the bad news. Some of her colleagues were rethinking their career choices. In her case, though, the turmoil had made her more determined: somewhere in the state, she said, she would be needed. "It's not going to make me not follow my dreams," Ms. Wick said. "I have wanted to be a teacher since the second grade." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company | Privacy Policy Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article have to stand on their own merits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many genera- tions. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. 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