- Districts warn of deeper teacher cuts, By Tamar Lewin and Sam Dillon, April 20, 2010, New York Times: “School districts around the country, forced to resort to drastic money-saving measures, are warning hundreds of thousands of teachers that their jobs may be eliminated in June. The districts have no choice, they say, because their usual sources of revenue – state money and local property taxes – have been hit hard by the recession. In addition, federal stimulus money earmarked for education has been mostly used up this year. As a result, the 2010-11 school term is shaping up as one of the most austere in the last half century. In addition to teacher layoffs, districts are planning to close schools, cut programs, enlarge classes and shorten the school day, week or year to save money…”
- Schools in New Jersey plan heavy cuts after voters reject most budgets, By Winnie Hu, April 21, 2010, New York Times: “School officials across New Jersey said on Wednesday that they would most likely have to lay off hundreds of teachers, increase class sizes, eliminate sports teams and Advanced Placement classes, cut kindergarten hours and take other radical steps to reduce spending after 58 percent of districts’ budgets were rejected by voters on Tuesday, the most in at least 35 years. Residents went to the polls in record numbers for the normally low-profile school-budget elections, and rejected 316 of the 541 budgets on the ballot. They were angered by higher property taxes that were sought to make up for unusually large state aid reductions proposed by Gov. Christopher J. Christie, along with resentment toward teachers’ unions for not agreeing to wage freezes or concessions…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty