THE U.S. FINANCIAL CRISIS AND ITS EFFECTS ON CHILDREN, YOUTH, FAMILIES, SCHOOLS AND SERVICES
INFORMATION ON SELECTED DISTRICTS AND SCHOOLS
Updated on May 14, 2009
Titles are presented in alphabetical order. When a series of reports are summarized under a topic, all links to full texts are shown after the chronology.
Alexandria, Virginia: A Professional Ethicist Helps Officials Deal With Moral Issues Involved in Budget Cuts
Washington Post (December 14, 2008).
“Faced with painful choices about who will suffer most from looming budget cuts, Alexandria officials have taken the unusual step of paying a professional ethicist to help them grapple with the moral issues involved. . . . Michael A. Gillette (is) an ethicist who helped mental health officials in Alexandria write guidelines for prioritizing assistance when there's not enough money to go around. At the urging of top city officials, Gillette also pushed more than 100 other senior and mid-level managers to wrestle with the ethics of shrinking government.” Full text: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/13/AR2008121300904.html
Bringing Students Back from Out-of-District Placements Compiled from various sources named in the text and shown in the links below.
*** Norwood Public School District, MA, Boston Globe, November 27, 2008: "In the hope of eventually saving millions of dollars a year, the Norwood (MA) public school district could start bringing back some of its special education students as early as next September. The plan, being driven by interim Schools Superintendent John Moretti, would be called the Norwood Prep Program and operate out of the James R. Savage Education Center. . . . Norwood spends about $3.5 million annually on tuition and services for 70-plus children who are educated out of town, including about 60 who have behavioral or emotional issues. That includes $900,000 to transport some as much as an hour each way. . . . The town of Lexington (MA) did the same thing and saved $1.5 million the first year, said Tom Scott, the executive director of the State’s Association of School Superintendents.” *** Lewiston-Porter School District, NY, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls NY, February 17, 2009: In the Lewiston-Porter School District in New York, the Superintendent and Director of Special Education “presented a plan to the Board of Education Tuesday that would create significant savings to the district by returning many special education students to the district program from the BOCES program. ’We were looking for ways to make up the loss of $1.5 million from State aid,’ the Superintendent said.” (BOCES is the Board of Cooperative Education Services, a regional service provider.) _________________________________ Special Ed Students May Stay in Town, Boston Globe, November 27, 2008: http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2008/11/27/special_ed_students_may_stay_in_town/ Lew-Port: District Finds Cost Saving Measures, Niagara Gazette, February 17, 2009: http://www.niagara-gazette.com/local/local_story_048222510.html
Clark County, Nevada: Less and Less Compiled from various sources named in the text and in the links below.
*** Las Vegas Sun, October 23, 2008: The editorial states that “there is concrete evidence that the governor’s . . . budget ax will be slicing classroom budgets at a school near you. The Clark County School District, which has been called upon to cut its budget by 14 percent in concert with the next round of State cuts, stands to lose $120 million. That’s on top of the $130 million slashed since December 2007. It will mean proposed layoffs for 261 administrators, support staff and licensed personnel, but that saves only $17 million. A large share of the proposed cuts, $57 million, will come out of the district’s 341 schools, each of which will have to pare 3.5 percent from their budgets. That’s an average of $127,054 for elementary schools, $156,087 for middle schools and $391,633 for high schools.” *** Las Vegas Sun, February 17, 2009: “ All but a few schools in the Clark County School District will give up the eight-period schedule that has allowed students to accumulate more credits in a shorter amount of time. The schedule, called block scheduling, was being used at nearly half of all high schools in the district in lieu of a traditional six-period schedule. Students would alternate two blocks of four 90-minute periods every other day to fit all of the classes in. In December, Superintendent Walt Rulffes and the School Board decided to cut the $11 million annual expense from the budget to comply with state-mandated budget cuts of $120 million per year for the next two. However, they gave schools the option of keeping the schedule, or a modified version, if they could figure out how to do it without the additional cost.” _________________________________ Cutting Educational Budgets, Las Vegas Sun, October 23, 2008: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/oct/23/cutting-educational-budgets/ Budget Cuts Force Schools to Drop Block Scheduling, Las Vegas Sun, February 17, 2009: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/feb/17/budget-cuts-force-schools-drop-block-scheduling/
Decatur, Georgia: Cuts in Teacher’s Aides, Alternative Education, After-School, and Other Programs Atlanta Journal-Constitution (January 13, 2009).
“Decatur city school board members Tuesday (January 13) approved $2 million in budget cuts, including layoffs of at least four employees, because of the sour economy and state funding cuts. . . . The four employees to be laid off are all teacher aides helping in fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms. Other positions may be eliminated, although schools Superintendent Phyllis Edwards has said she will look first to cut jobs that have been left open by attrition or are part-time. . . . Other measures include fewer staff work days in summer, less training and cuts to alternative education and after-school programs. One popular program, a child development center open to the public . . . will have to raise fees and become self-supporting.” Full text: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2009/01/13/
DeKalb Schools, Georgia: To Cut Back Busing, Cut Nonteacher Jobs, Erase Salary Increases. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. (November 4, 2008)
On November 3, 2008, “DeKalb County school board members approved some of the biggest cuts so far by a metro Atlanta system in the wake of a sour economy and State funding cuts. . . . The district will lose at least $10.5 million in a midyear State budget cut. There are expectations that, given the economy, the State will cut at least another 1 percent of DeKalb’s school funding for the next school year. This does not include any downturn in local tax collection. . . . DeKalb will lay off 127 employees, effective June 30. It will cut a total of 217 jobs. The difference includes jobs that are vacant or held by employees who last week accepted an early retirement offer. Employees affected by job cuts range from midlevel administrators to service technicians —- but not teachers. . . . Starting January 6, 2009, busing will be cut back for students who attend schools outside their neighborhood —- about 5,600 of the school district’s 99,600 students, including those in magnet schools, charter schools and academic theme schools or who transferred from lower-performing campuses. DeKalb will create hubs and over the next two months will notify parents where to drop off their children to be picked up by school buses and taken to school.” Full text: http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2008/11/04/downsize.html
Detroit, Michigan: A Public School Requests Donations of Light Bulbs and Other Basics Detroit News, January 8, 2009
“This week, administrators at the Academy of the Americas sent a letter home with students asking parents and others to donate items ‘that are of the utmost importance for proper school functioning and most importantly for student health and safety’ -- including light bulbs, trash bags, paper towel rolls and toilet paper. Students said the items were expected to be accepted at the front office starting Monday. The district's budgetary constraints meant officials no longer were able to supply the necessities, Principal Naomi Khalil said in the letter to parents. . . . Nate Taylor, chief of facilities maintenance and auxiliary services for Detroit Public Schools, said the district's problems are compounded by its deficit, which amounted to nearly $140 million for fiscal year 2008. ‘If you are asking whether there are some areas that are low on toilet paper, I would say probably yes,’ Taylor said, but added there are also other schools that have excess supplies that can be shifted to those undersupplied schools.” Full text: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901080424
Detroit Public Schools: Emergency Financial Manager Anticipates School Closures and Layoffs Compiled from several sources named in the text and in the links below.
Under Public Act 72 of 1990 (Local Government Fiscal Responsibility Act), Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed Robert C. Bobb as Emergency Financial Manager for Detroit Public Schools, effective March 2, 2009 and expiring March 1, 2010. *** Office of the Emergency Financial Manager, March 19, 2009: Emergency Financial Manager Robert C. Bobb issued an “order directing a hiring freeze pending review of vacant school district positions and creating a hiring review committee.” *** Office of the Emergency Financial Manager, March 19, 2009: Robert C. Bobb, Emergency Financial Manager, issued a series of orders to control spending in the district. “Today’s orders include a notice of nonrenewal for 786 DPS administrators, including central staff non-union administrators whose six-month contracts end on June 30, 2009; and all principals, assistant principals, central staff administrators and curriculum leaders whose contracts terminate June 39, 2009. . . . Administrators are entitled to request a meeting before Notices of Nonrenewal are issued. Bobb stated that he will conduct all meetings for those administrators whose sole reason for consideration of nonrenewal is that of economic necessity and/or reorganization of the school district.” *** Office of the Emergency Financial Manager, March 26, 2009: “It is hereby ordered . . . that all School District travel to conferences and workshops at the expense of the School District is hereby suspended immediately, and this Order shall remain in effect through March 2, 1010.” *** Office of the Emergency Financial Manager, April 8, 2009: In his letter to the State Superintendent of Schools, Emergency Finance Manager Robert C. Bobb said that “the Detroit Public Schools is faced with a number of difficult decisions as we seek to provide a balanced budget next fiscal year. Tomorrow morning (April 9), I will announce a list of 23 candidate schools for closure in the 2009-2010 school year, which will save DSP over $8 million annually. . . . Despite the weight of these decisions, we have a unique opportunity in light of the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. As part of our school closure process, we are planning to upgrade and modernize school facilities that will serve as receiving schools for affected students. With this opportunity, we are not only seeking to renovate receiving schools and bring these facilities into the 21st century, we are also seeking to make additional investments across the district in an effort to enhance the school climate challenges that a number of our schools face.” The letter includes details about these plans. *** Office of the Emergency Financial Manager, May 1, 2009: “On May 1, 2009, Robert C. Bobb, Emergency Financial Manager for the Detroit Public Schools, signed a contract on behalf of the District to sell $169,000,000 of state aid notes to the Michigan Municipal Bond Authority (MMBA). The notes are being issued to assist the District in managing its cash flow needs for the next several months, and will allow the District to make payrolls, pay vendors and avoid the need for requesting further advances of state aid from the Michigan Department of Education. The District is scheduled to receive the proceeds of the notes on Wednesday, May 6, 2009. The notes will bear interest at the rate of 4.75% and will mature in January, 2010.” Order Directing a Hiring Freeze Pending Review of Vacant School District Positions and Creating a Hiring Review Committee, Office of the Emergency Financial Manager, March 19, 2009 -- Under Orders, scroll to Order 2009-4: http://www.detroit.k12.mi.us/admin/finance/manager/ DPS Emergency Financial Manager Issues Orders to Control Spending, Detroit Public Schools, March 19, 2009 -- Under Orders, scroll to News Release, March 19, 2009 Orders: http://www.detroit.k12.mi.us/admin/finance/manager/ Order Suspending All Travel to Conferences and Workshops at School District Expense, Office of the Emergency Financial Manager, March 26, 2009 -- Under Orders, scroll to Order 2009-6 http://www.detroit.k12.mi.us/admin/finance/manager/ Letter to Michael P. Flanagan, Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction on School Closures, Office of the Emergency Financial Manager, April 8, 2009, distributed by the Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/uploads/pdfs/2009/04/dps0408.pdf *** Recorded news conference on proposed school closures, Emergency Financial Manager, April 8, 2009: http://www.detroit.k12.mi.us/media/32 *** A PowerPoint on the Facility Consolidation and Reinvestment Plan (including details about the schools named for closure) is available at: http://www.detroit.k12.mi.us/admin/finance/manager/docs/2009.04.09_facility_consolidation_and_reinvestment_plan.pdf Financing Will Ensure Payroll and Pension Obligations and Address Vendor Payments, Office of the Emergency Financial Manager, May 1, 2009: http://www.detroit.k12.mi.us/news/article/1747/
Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia: Fiscal 2010 Cuts and Rising Enrollments
On February 5, 2009, “the Fairfax County School Board voted to adopt the FY 2010 advertised budget, which includes budget cuts and cost avoidances that reduce the cost of supporting student learning by $157.5 million and calls for a net loss of 248.1 positions. Projected enrollment growth of 5,000 students is expected to offset these savings by $40 million, while State revenues are anticipated to drop from 15 to 20 percent below the current year’s revenues. Despite these additional costs, the FY 2010 budget is $10.3 million lower than the FY 2009 approved budget, and the cost per student decreases commensurately by nearly $500. Class sizes at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in Fairfax County Public Schools will be larger and programs and services will be cut; the budget also freezes all employee compensation. Deep cuts have also been made to central support and personnel. While classrooms will receive an approximate 5 percent in cuts, 10 percent of cuts will be made in administrative costs — on top of the 5 percent cut this year. . . . ‘Everyone — students, teachers, and administrators — will take a hit next year,’ School Board Chair Dan Storck says. ‘Classes will be crowded at all levels, including special education classes and classes for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) students. High school students will see some elective options disappear.’” Press release: http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=1069 Also see April 29 press release on consideration of more reductions: http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=1149
James Logan High School, Union City, California: Classrooms Experience Severe Overcrowding California Educator. (October, 2008). The Magazine of the California Teachers Association (CTA).
“In the thick of the State budget battle, one San Francisco Bay Area CTA chapter sounded the alarm about a large high school’s severe overcrowding . . . . The school year opened with algebra teacher Melissa Roman struggling to cope with 43 students crammed into one classroom — all of them English learners who require more individual instruction. . . . Roman works at the 4,000-student James Logan High School in the New Haven Unified School District in Union City, which suffered about $7 million in cuts earlier this year. Unable to plan ahead due to State budget delays, the school district did not fill 14 teaching positions at Logan High, sparking even more crowded classroom conditions than usual. . . . Television news crews also covered a protest on August 27 by three Logan High art teachers who dramatized the campus overcrowding by holding the first day of classes outside in a courtyard with their 160 students. One art class designed for 28 students had 53.” Full text: http://www.cta.org/media/publications/educator/current/1008_tas_01.htm
Lawrence Township, Indiana: Summer School Online, Position Eliminations, Pay Freeze, and Other Measures Indianapolis Star. (April 21, 2009).
“Lawrence Township students will go online instead of on campus this summer to make up lost course credits. District officials have canceled summer school to help compensate for a $4.2 million budget shortage. . . . The district also is eliminating 108 teaching and other jobs to save $2.9 million; imposing a pay freeze; and cutting janitorial expenses and school supplies, said Robin Phelps, the district's chief financial officer. Full text: http://www.indystar.com/article/20090421/LOCAL1802/904210346/1195/LOCAL18
New York City: The Recession Takes a Bite Out of the Big Apple Compiled from several sources named in the text and in the links below.
*** New York Times, September 23, 2008: “Confronting a rapidly worsening fiscal situation, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s budget director (Mark Page) ordered agency directors on Tuesday to cut spending by a total of $1.5 billion over two fiscal years, starting with the current fiscal year, which began on July 1. . . . The spending reductions would amount to $500 million for the 2009 fiscal year, which ends next June, and $1 billion for the 2010 fiscal year. (The total city budget is about $59 billion.) The cuts would be permanent and expected to recur in future budget. . . . The spending reductions ordered by Mr. Page are only the latest in a series of similar cuts made over the last 18 months, as the national and local economies have soured. . . . In March 2007, the mayor requested cuts of $180 million in the 2007 fiscal year and $500 million in the 2008 fiscal year. In October, he requested an additional $500 million in cuts for fiscal 2008 and $1 billion for fiscal 2009. And in March, he directed his agencies to make yet another round of cuts, $593 million, for the 2009 fiscal year. The end result was a series of budget reductions: $1.1 billion out of the fiscal 2008 budget, $1.3 billion out of the fiscal 2009 budget, and $1.2 billion out of the fiscal 2010 budget. The new cuts ordered by Mr. Page today will be reflected in November, the next time the city is scheduled to formally update its financial plan.” *** New York Daily News, November 12, 2008: New York City “Department of Education brass ordered school principals to slash their budgets on Tuesday, November 11, making city school kids the latest victims in the crushing economic downturn. . . . Because full-time teachers are not on the chopping block, books, after-school programs and tutoring services are. Smaller schools such as the Center School on the upper West Side will take a hit of about $20,000 while larger schools such as DeWitt Clinton in the northwest Bronx will lose close to $400,000. It gets worse next year: Public School 321 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, will see a cut of about $115,000 this year and an estimated $285,000 next year.” *** New York Times, December 10, 2008: “For the second time in about three months, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is ordering all city agencies to trim their spending. The additional cuts of 7 percent, or $1.4 billion, would commence in July, the start of the 2010 fiscal year, and continue indefinitely, the city’s budget director said this week. They would come on top of the previously demanded 5 percent cuts, or $1 billion, from Mr. Bloomberg in late September. Those cuts are set to begin on a prorated schedule in January. That means the Police Department must cut an additional $286 million in the next fiscal year. City schools must find another $527 million to cut. And the city’s Administration for Children’s must slash $53 million.” *** New York Times, January 29, 2009: “Joel I. Klein, the New York City schools chancellor, pleaded with State lawmakers on Wednesday (January 28) to reduce proposed budget cuts and to give the city more flexibility in how State aid is spent, saying that as things stand, the schools could have to lay off 15,000 employees, many of them teachers, next year. . . . Testifying at a joint hearing of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, the chancellor said the school system now faces a $1.4 billion shortfall from its 2009-10 budget: $700 million in state cuts, $500 million in city cuts and $200 million in what he described as increases in ‘additional obligations,’ including salary increases and special-education mandates.” *** Office of the Mayor, January 30, 2009: “Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today presented a Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Preliminary Budget and an updated four-year financial plan. The Mayor outlined a plan to close a $4 billion deficit for FY 2010 through nearly $1 billion in new agency gap closing actions, keeping controllable expenses virtually flat, as well as revenue enhancements, including possible sales tax increases and long-term cost containment measures such as pension reform and efforts to reign in employee health care costs. The continued decline in the economy and the proposed State budget caused the City's FY 2010 deficit to grow from the $1.3 billion estimated in November to $4 billion. . . . Prior to today's announcement, actions taken by City agencies since last January have saved $2.2 billion in FY 2010 and $1.6 billion in FY 2009. Those actions prevented a far larger deficit in FY 2010. . . . Examples of the new agency gap-closing actions include: (a) Police: Reduction of uniform headcount by 1,000 -- $48.9 million; (b) Fire: Elimination of companies in dual company fire houses or eliminating fifth firefighter on 64 engines -- $17.0 million; (c) Transportation: Increasing rates for single space parking meters -- $16.8 million; (d) Children's Services: Eliminating 549 child welfare positions -- $15.5 million; (e) Children's Services: Reducing low priority child care services and foster care boarding home rates -- $12.8 million; (f) Parks: Reducing seasonal aides by 167 positions - $5.6 million; (g) Libraries: Reducing City subsidy by 7 percent -- $20.1 million; (h) Aging: Reducing senior center funding by 5 percent -- $5.3 million. . . . Among possible revenue increases, a repeal of the sales tax clothing exemption could generate $36 million in FY 2009 and $394 million in FY 2010, including two tax-free weeks. Increasing the sales tax rate by ¼ percent could generate $25 million in FY 2009 and $302 million in FY 2010. An expansion of purchases subject to sales taxes in the State's Executive Budget could generate $16 million in FY 2009 and $198 million in FY 2010 in City revenue. In total, potential sales tax increases would generate $894 million in FY 2010.” *** Daily News, New York City, February 26, 2009: “Washington’s hefty stimulus plan will mean more cash for the city's poor and special needs students and could prevent teacher layoffs, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Thursday (February 26). The bill will inject about $4.7 billion into New York State’s education system over two years. It includes about $1 billion that will go directly to New York City schools through Title I grants to low-income schools and special education funding.” *** New York City Independent Budget Office (IBO), March 9, 2009: “IBO now estimates the city will lose 270,000 jobs from its employment peak in the first quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of 2010. With these larger than expected job losses -- roughly 30,000 more than we estimated in January -- comes a lower forecast of tax revenues. IBO projects that total tax revenues, even after accounting for December’s increase of the property and hotel occupancy tax rates, will fall by $2.6 billion . . . this fiscal year. And even if we include the expected revenue from the Mayor’s proposed sales tax increase, we estimate total tax revenues will decline by an additional $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2010. . . . We now estimate a budget gap of $1.2 billion in 2010. Our budget gap projection for 2011 is now $4.8 billion -- $1.6 billion more than the Mayor estimated in January.” *** Office of the Mayor. May 1. 2009: Mayor Bloomberg today presented the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Executive Budget and an updated four-year financial plan. The Mayor outlined a plan to balance the budget for FY 2010 through: a cumulative total of $3.4 billion in agency gap closing actions, including $324 million of new actions detailed today; using more than $5 billion in surpluses saved from periods of economic growth; and revenue enhancements, including a proposed sales tax increase. The plan also relies on a minimum of $1.4 billion in combined savings and revenues generated by anticipated actions from the State and organized labor, including pension reform and health care cost reductions. The proposal balances the City's budget, while maintaining the core services needed to continue the progress made over the last seven years in keeping crime at record lows, improving City schools, keeping streets clean, increasing open space, improving life expectancies and reducing homelessness. The balanced budget proposal calls for no further reductions in the number of uniformed officers or any further staff reductions at the Department of Education or at the Administration for Children's Services. . . . Total FY 2010 City revenues are forecast to have fallen by nearly $5 billion compared to FY 2008 levels. Since January, when the Mayor presented a preliminary budget, City tax revenues have fallen by $680 million for FY 2010.” Details of the budget provisions are included in this extensive press release. *** New York Times, May 10, 2009: “In an effort to cut costs and avoid teacher layoffs, the Department of Education on Wednesday ordered principals to fill vacancies with internal candidates only. As a result, aspiring teachers at education schools and members of programs like Teach for America -- a corps of recent college graduates — and the city’s Teaching Fellows — which trains career professionals to become teachers — are scrambling for jobs. . . . But this year, the department anticipates fewer openings and will not hire externally except in certain high-needs areas like speech therapy and bilingual special education. Instead, principals can fill spots only with internal candidates, including teachers from a reserve pool made up of those whose jobs have been eliminated and many who have earned unsatisfactory ratings. Schools that opened in the past two years and are still expanding their ranks are also exempt from the hiring restrictions, as are charter schools.” _________________________________ Bloomberg Orders $1.5 Billion in Cuts, New York Times, September 23, 2008: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/bloomberg-orders-15-billion-in-cuts/ City Kids Hit Hard as Principals Told to Hack Budgets, New York Daily News, November 12, 2008: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2008/11/11/2008-11-11_city_kids_hit_hard_as_principals_told_to-2.html Bloomberg Orders More Budget Cuts, New York Times, December 10, 2008: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/bloomberg-orders-more-budget-cuts-2/ Klein Implores Legislators to Reduce Cuts to Schools, New York Times (distributed by Excellent Education for Everyone, E3), January 29, 2009: http://www.nje3.org/?p=2440 Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg Presents FY 2010 Preliminary Budget, Office of the Mayor, January 30, 2009: http://www.nyc.gov:80/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.c0935b9a57bb4ef3daf2f1c701c789a0/index.jsp?pageID=mayor_press_release&catID=1194&doc_name= http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nyc.gov%2Fhtml%2Fom%2Fhtml%2F2009a%2Fpr051-09.html&cc= unused1978&rc=1194&ndi=1 Obama’s Stimulus to Inject $4.7 Billion Into New York’s Education System, Says Shumer, Daily News, New York City, February 26, 2009 (includes info on benefits to NYC schools): http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/02/26/2009-02-26_obamas_stimulus_to_inject_47_billion_int.html Testimony of Ronnie Lowenstein to the New York City Council Finance Committee on the 2010 Preliminary Budget and Four-Year Financial Plan, City of New York Independent Budget Office, March 9, 2009: http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/march92009prelimbudgettestimony.pdf Executive Budget. Fiscal Year 2010, Office of Management and Budget, May 1, 2009 -- Mayor’s message, budget summary, and many other details: http://www.nyc.gov/html/omb/html/publications/finplan05_09.shtml *** Also see the May 1 press release: http://www.nyc.gov:80/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.b270a4a1d51bb3017bce0ed101c789a0/index.jsp?doc_name=/html/om/html/2009a/events_05.html For Many Teachers, a Famously Fertile Market Dries Up Overnight, New York Times, May 10, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/nyregion/11teachers.html?_r=1&ref=education
Pontiac, Michigan: Everyone Gets a Pink Slip All Things Considered, National Public Radio. (March 18, 2009).
“While officials in school districts across the country are making some very tough decisions in this dour economy, one school district in Michigan is doing the unprecedented -- pushing the reset button and laying off every employee. . . . Pontiac is teetering on what Governor Jennifer Granholm termed a ‘financial emergency.’ . . . Pontiac is an industrial sister city to Detroit. . . . The Pontiac school system was built to accommodate 20,000 students, but current enrollment is but a third of that. Students either moved out of the district as jobs have become scarcer, or they chose to attend private or charter schools. Superintendent Linda Paramore says to deal with this reality, the school board has sent every employee a pink slip. . . . Board of Education officials say they'll recall only those employees needed for next school year.” Full text and listen to the audio: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102057651
Sam Hughes Elementary School, Tucson, Arizona: Parents Volunteer To Be Substitute Teachers Arizona Daily Star, Tucson. (May 3, 2009).
“A group of parents at Sam Hughes Elementary School has come up with an innovative way to save the school money -- some of them will become certified substitute teachers. That way, the school could save the money it spends on substitutes — who earn $75 to $121 a day depending on geography and whether they're retired teachers — and funnel those savings back into supporting the classroom. . . . Alyson Nielson, TUSD's director of employment services, said the district currently uses an automated system to identify substitutes, and she'd have to research how it might be tweaked to accommodate the parents' objective. TUSD's legal counsel said if substitutes chose to donate their pay to the district after receiving it, it would be treated as any other gift or donation to a school.” Full text:http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/education/291294.php
San Diego Unified School District, California: The Most Experienced Teachers Will Be Encouraged to Retire Union-Tribune, San Diego. (March 3, 2009).
“San Diego's most experienced teachers will be encouraged to retire early this year, under a plan approved by the school board on Tuesday (March 3). . . . Labor unions . . . negotiated retirement incentives to help offset an estimated $77 million deficit to next year's budget. . . . At least 633 teachers would have to volunteer for early retirement in order for San Diego Unified to realize significant savings, officials said. About 250 teachers retire in a typical year. The San Diego school board already committed to roughly $45.3 million in cuts to next year's budget through hiring and spending freezes, consolidating school bus routes, and offers of early retirement.” Full text: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/03/bn03deal-for-teachers/
St. Ansgar, Iowa: Board Approves School Cuts Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa. (February 20, 2009).
“St. Ansgar School Board members approved the reduction of five, full-time teaching positions during a special meeting Thursday (February 19). . . . The cuts include one full-time physical education teacher, one full-time elementary teacher, one full-time elementary art teacher and a three-quarter time middle school instructor. The district will also combine its middle school and high school band position with an elementary music instruction post, reducing time by almost half. A German language position and math teaching position will each be reduced by one quarter and the Family and Consumer Science position will also be slightly reduced. Additional funds will be saved by eliminating Spanish instruction over the Iowa Communications Network.” Full text: http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2009/02/20/news/latest/doc499f06e86b3be782326307.txt
Tallmadge School District, Ohio: Pay Freeze and Staff Cuts Akron Beacon Journal. (March 20, 2009):
“Tallmadge school officials are planning more job cuts and wage freezes in an effort to address a budget crunch. To cut costs, 14 administrators in the Tallmadge school district have agreed to a pay freeze for the 2009-2010 contract year. . . . Superintendent Jeff Ferguson said he is beginning the process of reducing district staff by 18 positions. Eight teachers will be let go, along with three administrators. Three nonteaching positions will be eliminated, and four retiring teachers will not be replaced. The cuts are expected to save about $1.2 million. Ferguson said he is concerned that cuts, like this, affect the quality of education offered by the district. . . . The district will have a 6.9-mill, five-year emergency operating levy on a May 5 ballot.” Full text:http://www.ohio.com/news/41547772.html
To refer information for this page (with links), please contact Judy Smith-Davis:
This information is an attempt to gather wide-ranging information in one place. Information is presented in the language of the developer, publisher, distributor, or author. The Southeast Regional Resource Center has no ownership of anything described in this library.
Readers should review the copyright and distribution policies shown at the websites of the sources. SERRC is not the source of any document in this collection, but simply conveys information to show the availability of these resources.
The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the position of policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and no endorsement of the U.S. Department of Education should be inferred.
