Teacher Layoffs: Delayed Federal Aid Costs Jobs

Last week's report on September employment contained the especially disappointing news that 58,000 workers had been released from state and local government jobs in education. True, there is only so much tax money to go around, and we all have to economize, including governments. But in view of the erosion of the competitive position of the U.S., public education should be a high-priority investment.

In August, Congress passed a $26 billion package of more aid to state governments, but it came too late to spare the jobs of many government workers. State governments reported 7,000 net fewer people employed, including 8,000 fewer in education. Local government rolls fell by 76,000, of which about 50,000 jobs were in education. Versus September 2009, local government education jobs are down by 109,000.

(A statistical point -- all those numbers are seasonally adjusted. Unadjusted, local government positions in education actually increased in September 2010 from August, but because of the seasonal pattern of teacher employment I suppose we should rely on the adjustments.)

The federal aid was supposed to preserve 160,000 jobs, but passing a bill in August was of no help for this school year. In New Jersey, the federal aid package would have kept 3,900 teachers. Here's a local perspective via DailyJobCuts.com, which posts daily lists of layoffs and businesses closing, and The Asbury Park NJ Press:

Many of New Jersey's approximately 600 school districts got a share of the $268 million about three weeks ago, along with advice from the New Jersey Department of Education to hold onto the money until next year.

"The decisions regarding layoffs needed to be made in May and June," said Laura Morana, superintendent of the 1,000-student Red Bank Borough Public School district, whose share of the funding is $83,000. "We got it (the money) three weeks ago. It was too late."

...

The 11,500-student Cherry Hill Public School district axed 100 people, 51 of them teachers, still leaving the large district with 999 classroom instructors, according to district spokeswoman Susan Bestnagel.

The district has also increased each class size by two students in first through fifth grades to make up for the cutbacks, and is charging activity fees of $70 for middle schools and $80 for high schools for the first time rather than cut athletic and extracurricular activities, she said.

If no corrections are made, "we will have to adjust the budget by laying off people equivalent to $22 million" or 900 layoffs, [Superintendent Dr. James] Williams said.
A veto by Governor Paterson means more than $11 million more for charter schools and more than that which won't come in to help with pension costs, along with a $4 million cut in state aid and $8 million which hasn't come in from the federal jobs bill.

The National League of Cities, in its latest annual survey, found that the fiscal situation for US cities was the worst it has been in at least 25 years, even though property taxes are just beginning to reflect the declines associated with the property bust. The same group in July co-wrote a study predicting that local government job losses will approach 500,000 as a result of the recession, meaning there is still more pain ahead.