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| NCTQ Report: The Truth about Teacher Lay-Offs |
| posted by: Alix | November 08, 2011, 08:54 PM |
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As reported last month on the AAE Blog, President Obama warned that without his now since failed jobs bill, nearly 280,000 education jobs would be lost this year alone. In reality, since the recession hit, a culture of anxiety regarding teacher layoffs and the effects on our nation's schools has set in nationwide. With the federal government repeatedly coming to the rescue, regardless of need, a new report for the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) examines the real numbers behind teacher jobs and reports of massive lay-offs. Regardless of President Obama's apocalyptic outlook for teacher jobs, it should be noted that the media has not reported on massive lay-offs this back-to-school season like in years past. Last spring, reports about school districts handing out pink slips by the thousands were plentiful, with little follow up about incorporating those teachers back into the workforce. In recognizing these trends and the gaps in these unnerving stories, NCTQ surveyed school districts around the country to find out what really happened in the wake of these reported budget cliffs. In order to paint an accurate picture, surveys were sent to 78 large urban districts, located in 42 states. While not a representative sample of the entire country, the survey respondents reflect the large urban districts that are most affected by financial cuts. In the 74 districts that responded, 9,545 teachers–about 2.5 percent of the total number of teachers in these districts were either laid off or were probationary teachers who were non-renewed for budget reasons. Excluding California districts as outliers, the rate falls to 1.5%. Additionally, about half of the districts reported no layoffs whatsoever. Following these shocking results, NCTQ dug deeper to find out what districts were doing to combat the reportedly unprecedented budget gaps. Further survey results indicated that many districts resorted to other strategies including central office staff lay-offs, federal funding, early retirement incentives, or reduced school days among other plans. One particular cost-cutting strategy of note was reducing the number of teacher aides and teacher support staff. With many districts taking advantage of this plan to save money, economic experts assert that the slashing of those positions account for the vast majority of the reported 200,000 "edu-sector jobs lost" during the recession. While this data certainly explains some of the education sector job losses and paints a picture of the reality of the situation, states and local districts are undoubtedly feeling the effects of budget shortfalls. As NCTQ points out, while districts are feeling these cuts, the fact is localities have been on a hiring spree for the past ten years, with the teacher workforce growing at nearly twice the pace of the growth in the student population. What do you think about the NCTQ report? Comment below.
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