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NYC Outlines 4,675 Teacher Layoffs If State Doesn't Act
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 28, 2011
Modified Feb 28, 2011
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or 6 teachers
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 28, 2011
Modified Feb 28, 2011
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The city has released a list of schools, detailing the number of teachers to be laid off, if the state doesn't pony up funds or change teacher firing rules. The NY Times reports, "The layoffs, totaling 4,675 teachers, 6 percent of the active teachers in the system, would spare virtually no academic subject or neighborhood, and they would affect 80 percent of the approximately 1,600 public schools in the city. Most would lose one to five teachers; nine would lose half of the teachers they have."
While it's not the 21,000 layoffs that Bloomberg warned everyone about in January, it's still a big number. The Daily News points out, "Art, gym, music and library programs would be particularly hard hit, losing 15% of their teachers. For Manhattan's Columbia Secondary School, it means 14 of the 20 teachers would get the ax under existing last-in, first-out seniority rules Mayor Bloomberg is fighting in Albany to change." (Columbia Secondary School is a newer school.) The layoffs look like they'll hit poorest neighborhoods hardest.
The State Senate appears to be on Bloomberg's side with ending last-in, first-out seniority rules—which requires the most recently hired teachers to be laid off first, versus teachers who have been teaching longer, regardless of their talent—but the Times says the Assembly seems to be more resistant. Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) tells the Times, "It’s unlikely that we will simply sign off on a unilateral power grab by the mayor in the area of seniority without significant input and modification to the legislation."
Tagged
Albany
last-in first-out
mayor bloomberg
Teacher Layoffs
teacher seniority
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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