Huffington Post highlights the plight faced by local communities all across the country tightening budgets and decreasing local tax revenue. Students Fight To Make Sure Their Teachers Aren't Fired details the grassroot efforts by a community in California that is trying to ensure their favorites aren't laid off at the end of the school year.
As Chairman Miller said, "Our responsibility to keep the economic recovery moving forward has not ended. That’s why I introduced the Local Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4812) earlier this year. It will create up to a million jobs quickly in both the public and private sectors and help restore vital services that families rely on. I am pleased to see so many of my colleagues support this legislation and that Senator Sherrod Brown announced he will be introducing a companion bill in the Senate.”
Tonight, in a little strip-mall office next to the local Safeway, a teenage student from Alameda, California will spend the evening dialing up strangers to make an earnest request: please save my school.The AP reports that high school students face hard lesson in economics due to increasing cuts in teachers, programs and other important school staff.
The budget ax is about to fall on this Bay Area city. Seven million dollars in K-12 education cuts are planned this year, nearly $10 million will be lopped off next year, and a massive $17 million cut looms in 2012. A few weeks ago, Alameda's Board of Education handed out pink slips to 130 teachers, administrators and staff.
"This is the worst yet," said Superintendent Kirsten Vital, a 20-year veteran of California's education system. "I've never seen anything like it."
Across the country, mass layoffs of teachers, counselors and other staff members — caused in part by the drying up of federal stimulus dollars — are leading to larger classes and reductions in everything that is not a core subject, including music, art, clubs, sports and other after-school activities.
Educators and others worry the cuts could lead to higher dropout rates and lower college attendance as students receive less guidance and become less engaged in school. They fear a generation of young people could be left behind.
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"Literally tens of millions of students will experience these budget cuts in one way or another," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who is urging Congress to provide another round of emergency funding for schools. "If we do not help avert this state and local budget crisis, we could impede reform and fail another generation of children."
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has introduced legislation that would create a $23 billion fund to help schools retain teachers, principals and other staff members. The fate of the bill is uncertain.
The American Association of School Administrators estimates that 275,000 education jobs will be cut in the coming school year, based on an April survey. Other AASA surveys found that 52 percent of administrators plan to cut extracurricular activities, and 51 percent are reducing elective courses not required for graduation.
As Chairman Miller said, "Our responsibility to keep the economic recovery moving forward has not ended. That’s why I introduced the Local Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4812) earlier this year. It will create up to a million jobs quickly in both the public and private sectors and help restore vital services that families rely on. I am pleased to see so many of my colleagues support this legislation and that Senator Sherrod Brown announced he will be introducing a companion bill in the Senate.”
Education Week reports on a new report by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers on state finances.
"Fiscal 2010 presented the most difficult challenges for states' financial management since the Great Depression, and fiscal 2011 is expected to present states with similar challenges," the report says. "The severe national recession that most likely ended in the second half of calendar year 2009 has drastically reduced tax revenues from every revenue source."And PBS NewsHour did a story last night about the impending problems of massive teacher layoffs and cuts to school programs. Watch it below:
And fiscal 2011 isn't looking much brighter, the groups say: A majority of states are contemplating cutting K-12 education next year as they brace for overall spending reductions for what could be the third year in a row.
State general fund spending declined an unprecedented two years in a row, in both fiscal years 2009 and 2010, the report found. It estimates that fiscal 2010 general fund expenditures will be $612.9 billion among all the states, down from $657.9 billion in the previous fiscal year—an 8 percent decline. And in their budget requests, 13 governors proposed spending less in fiscal 2011 than in fiscal 2010.
Overall, 44 states estimate that they will be spending less from their general funds in fiscal 2010 than they did in fiscal 2008, the last year before the recession struck.
