Public schools face massive layoffs

Washington: From coast to coast, public schools face the threat of tens of thousands of layoffs this year in a fiscal crunch likely to result in larger class sizes and fewer programmes to help students in need.

Reports of deep staffing and service cuts are emerging in several states, including California, Illinois and New Jersey, as school officials warn that finances have been stretched to the breaking point.

Last week, Senator Tom Harkin proposed a $23 billion (Dh84.4 billion) bailout to help states avert education layoffs.

The Democratic-led Congress will consider the proposal this spring along with spending measures related to the economy and the war in Afghanistan.

The Obama administration is urging relief for states. Education Secretary Arne Duncan estimated that education layoffs could total anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 unless Congress acts.

"It is brutal out there, really scary," Duncan told reporters on Capitol Hill.

"This is a real emergency. What we're trying to avert is an education catastrophe."

Effective teaching

Duncan said President Obama's campaign to shake up perennially low-achieving schools and promote effective teaching could be undermined if class sizes rise, summer school is cut and other education programmes are jettisoned.

"We must act soon," said Harkin, chairman of two Senate panels overseeing education policy and spending.

He noted that states are starting to issue layoff notices.

"This is not something we can fix in August. We have to fix it now."

Senator Lamar Alexander said he worried about where the government would find $23 billion for a bailout in a time of growing federal budget deficits.

"I wonder from whose schoolchildren we are going to borrow this money, because we have a looming debt crisis in this country and we'll need to debate this," he said.

"We all want to help our children and our schools, but that is a deep concern."

In December, the House approved a spending bill of similar scope to help save education jobs. That measure stalled in the Senate.

Aid

The stimulus law enacted in February 2009 provided nearly $100 billion for education, much of it to help states avoid layoffs following the deepest economic recession in decades. However, that source of aid will soon run out.

Even though the economy appears to be on the mend, state and local tax revenues in many places are stagnant or sagging. As a result, educators face what experts call a "funding cliff."