California Teachers Losing Jobs Amid Budget Cuts

I mentioned earlier that California is facing serious budget problems and that these problems could begin to affect students expecting grant & financial aid payments through the state.  In addition to this, teachers are now preparing for a massive wave of job cuts and layoffs.

CBS is reporting that as many as 26,000 teachers could lose their jobs this year in the state – and preliminary pink slips are starting to be delivered.

Since the deadline for notification is March 15, many educators wore pink shirts and carried pink protest signs to voice their opposition to the flood of pink slips being shipped into schools.

The current budget shortfalls are forcing schools to absorb as much as an $8 billion cost reduction, and it is still unclear if the federal stimulus package is going to offset some of these losses.  California lawmakers are also considering an emergency spending and debt financing bill, but arguments about how it will be paid and the falling credit rating of California state have complicated the progress toward securing funds for schools.

While the affect of such cuts is disasterous for the teachers involved, students are perhaps the biggest losers in the system.  Many of the debts taken out on behalf of the state government were spent on projects and services that were allocated long before the students were of age to become beneficiaries.  Without a proper education, the future of the economy also suffers.  Infrastructure and social services alone cannot build a financial system if the future workforce doesn’t have the proper education to meet the economic needs of their community.

Between suspending college grant money and slashing K-12 education budgets, the students of California are finding little support from the government that has had no problem spending like crazy in the past.  Unfortunately, the children of our current generation have inherited a mis-managed economy that seems to favor political patrons over the future of our population.

Maybe, is it too much to ask that people give up their Ipones and lattes so the children can get a proper education?  I’m sure such a request is too extreme to be taken seriously in the political halls…