Schools reluctant at rehiring teachers
Schools have laid off teachers this spring and all the states have started asking Washington for money for the ruined education budgets.
After the federal government granted them 10 million dollars some of the biggest school districts are opposing to using it to hire back the teachers that have been laid off. The reason they give for acting in such a manner is that the economic situation does not seem to improve and they will probably need their share of the money to prevent future firings. One example is Los Angeles, that estimates a 280 million dollars budget hole for the next year which could threaten more jobs. Lydia L. Ramos, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest after New York City says that they are keeping the money to help them deal easier with the next years deficit. The district has already laid off 682 teachers and counselors and about 2,000 support workers this spring and there is no certain hope that it will be able to them back with the stimulus money. More than that, the district fears that it could be forced to fire 4,500 more people next year.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City made a compromise: he did not fire any teacher or education employed personnel this year, but he did not give them any raises either and the city’s budget had already taken into account the federal aid. The situation is totally different in New Jersey where 3,000 teachers were laid off in May, and Governor Chris Christie fears that the federal aid will only delay the decision of cutting more jobs for later. The 26 billion dollars federal aid package, approved by President Obama on the 10th of August allocates 10 billion dollars for school districts with the declared purpose of rehiring teachers, counselors, classroom aides, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and others related workers.
The money are supposed to be used this current school year, but school districts are allowed to spend it no later than September 2012. This way, the education department hopes that it will save about 160,000 jobs. Though preserving current jobs is good for the economy, many teachers that have been out of work during the last months and were hoping that they will be hired back and are now disappointed. Las Vegas, placed in the nation’s fifth-largest district is eager to hire some teachers although they do not know how will they deal with the extra employees when the federal money runs out. Jeff Weiler, chief financial officer for Clark County schools says that it seems strange to him that he will have to hire teachers for one year only, but this is the declared purpose of the bill after all. Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry has rejected so far the new federal education dollars. Given the chance that he will change his mind Houston’s superintendent, Terry B. Grier, intends to use an amount ranging from 40 to 70 million dollars to extend the school day and year, and to hire tutors.
Schools ‘administrators do not have much time to make up their mind what to do with the money and even the ones from the institutions that start classes after Labor Day have only a few weeks to decide whether to hire more teachers and rearrange the classes which were already scheduled by now or to hire support personnel, like those tutors in Houston. In Arizona, most of the schools have already reopened and Paul Senseman, a spokesman for Governor Jan Brewer, says that it is not likely that there will be more teachers this year and that they think about using the money on counselors, after-school programs, aides, nurses or coaches.
