They do this every year. Then most if not all get rehired.
This is done for two reasons:
1) It allows the State legislature to panic the citizens saying that if they don’t raise taxes, thousands of teachers will be laid off.
2) It helps the CTA in negotiations by allowing them to panic the local parents into forcing the school boards to agree to anything the CTA wants.
“Parents protested...”
Irresponsible parents don’t want their favorite middle-class welfare program cut. Too bad, though, that they aren’t laying off 200,000 or 300,000 “educators” to send the unions a message.
64 teachers were laid off in 2010. They give out massive notices in March, again in May, and then actually layoffs are miniscule.