More than 20,000 California teachers pink-slipped

SF Chronicle ^ | Friday, March 16, 2012 | Jill Tucker

[DeaconBenjamin]

More than 20,000 public school teachers in California opened their mailboxes over the last few days to find a pink slip inside as districts dispensed the dreaded news to the educators that they may not have a job in the fall.

The layoff notices are preliminary, the districts' best guess at their funding after the Legislature concludes its annual budget fight this summer. But a proposed tax measure on the November ballot offers more uncertainty.

Voters could approve a tax increase that would prevent a $4.8 billion trigger cut to education funding, as proposed in the governor's budget.

That cut would be about $807 per student, the equivalent of 55,000 teacher layoffs or 17 days of school, according to The Education Coalitions.

The layoff notices were sent to teachers, librarians and others in schools all over California. Not many districts found a way to skirt the deadline.

San Francisco sent out 500 layoff notices.

In Los Angeles, 11,000 were sent.

About 700 were mailed in Sacramento.

Every school librarian in Union City got one, along with 100 teachers, administrators and other school staff.

Oakland Unified administrators found a way to balance its budget through attrition, elimination of adult education, across-the-board cuts at school sites, school mergers and closures, as well as other program cuts.

Disgruntled public

As the pink slip deadline approached, the mood in dozens of districts across the state reflected a growing public impatience with budget cuts to education. Parents protested, teachers rallied, and three students in San Leandro held a weeklong hunger strike to draw attention to the cost to classrooms.

In years past, many of the layoff notices issued by the March 15 deadline have been rescinded because of concessions from labor unions, changes to the state's revenue outlook or successful parcel tax measures.

[Joe Boucher]

Problem is that they will use a senority system to dump teachers instead of retaining those who actually can teach.

[dragnet2]

And then sow that land with salt.

Another moron who thinks firing tens of thousands of unionized government employee parasites are a bad thing?

Then you suggest salting the most beautiful state in this great country?

I'd rather see you snort a pound of salt, after reading your stooopid juvenile comments,