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early warnings

November 18, 2010

Mayor’s early budget calls for 6,100 teacher layoffs next year

by Anna Phillips, at 5:25 pm

Mayor Bloomberg called for over 6,100 teaching jobs to be cut from the city’s public schools next year in a new austerity budget released today.

The preliminary budget, which tries to close a massive gap left by the end of federal stimulus funding, will leave the Department of Education with a total deficit of $435 million. The department was spared a more brutal cut by the mayor’s decision to shift funding from other areas into the school system, partially filling the hole left by the loss of $853 million in stimulus funds and $350 million in budget cuts.

Folded into the city’s calculations is the assumption that another 1,500 teachers will be lost through the attrition schools experience every year. It also assumes that schools will bear the full brunt of the $435 million cut, though a spokeswoman for the DOE said officials have not decided what, if any, cuts will be made to the central administration.

“Right now, the City is facing unprecedented budget conditions and we recognize that everyone will have to make some very tough choices in the coming months,” said Department of Education Chief Operating Officer Sharon Greenberger in an email.

“While this is a preliminary estimate of what next year’s budget will look like, we are already identifying ways to reduce the financial impact on our schools and students,” she said.

Last year when the mayor announced his preliminary budget, he described a doomsday scenario that included cutting 8,500 teaching positions. Two months later, that number shrank to 6,400 — 4,000 of which would have come from layoffs, and the rest from attrition. Finally, the mayor rescinded the threat of teacher layoffs entirely, saying that the city would cover the deficit by eliminating a two percent raise teachers were expected to get.

Teachers union president Michael Mulgrew said he was hopeful that with a new chancellor coming into Tweed and a new governor in Albany, he and elected officials would be able to lobby for more state funding.

Incoming governor Andrew Cuomo “keeps saying he’s going to cut things, but once he gets into office and sees the realities he may think differently,” Mulgrew said.

“In these tough times, the money has to go to the classroom,” he said. “I think we have some things we can cut out of the central Department of Education. Then you have to look at what’s going on in Albany and hopefully we’ll have a better session this year. It was craziness last year, but there are opportunities this year.”

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  • Mustafa

    Do we really need all of those Deputy Chancellors?

  • Bovine

    Will they at least let us know soon so that those who are impacted can make the arrangements they need?

  • John G

    Bovine, last year we didnt know until the state passed its budget. If that goes the same way as it did last year, we won’t have a good idea until well in May or June.

  • Green Hornet

    Mustafa: If I may slightly edit your question. Do we really need any of those Deputy Chancellors?

  • Mustafa

    Agreed, GH.
    The real point that I was trying to make is I’m willing to wager if you ask any public school teacher or administator “Who has a more important role in NYC public education, a classroom teacher or John White?’ You will never hear anyone mention John White’s name. Feel free to ask that question and substitute White’s name with any other Deputy Chancellor, the response will still be the same.

  • Ms. Smith

    Could it be a threat just in case Ms. Black is not issued a waiver?

  • Joe Schmo

    Gotta say I don’t think layoffs will happen. Big threats of layoffs were made last year. However, this year there will be a lack of stimulus money for schools to have for 2011-2012. I’m guessing yet another year without a contract. (That is fine with me as this is NOT the time for givebacks)

  • queens parent

    The mayor could reduce the salary of the new chancellor’s position to minimum wage — since she (if granted her waiver) has minimum experience in the education field. Then he should reduce the salary of all those deputy chancellors also. Then he should give up all the building space and cram all those people in the same room to work — just like he does with our kids. think of the money he can save on rent and utility bills. And he should cut out their expense accounts. They can all eat school lunch. that should be enough to save the teacher’s jobs and then some.

  • John G

    Sorry fot the second comment, but just to let the truth out now about layoffs, so I thought I’d share what my UFT DR explained to me during last year’s crisis;
    1.they happen by license first (which subject the teacher teaches) and exactly which licenses have to be discussed FIRST. Not one English or Math teacher will be laid off this year if Tweed decides those licenses are exempt (which they probablly will, as the licenses are too important).
    2. Then WITHIN those license areas, layoffs happen by seniority (last one in, first one out). Guidance counselors with not many years on the job. Art teachers. Music teachers. Folks with these types of licenses and little seniority may be effected.
    3. Each year, the city loses between 3000 and 8000 teachers naturally (retirements or resignations) anyway, so there’s a good chance that no layoffs will be needed at all.

    In fact, there is a very good chance. Mayor Mike has been playing a little loose with the truth lately (moreso than usual i think) and is probably completely full of crap.
    COMPLETELY FULL OF CRAP.

  • incongressional

    The mayor is going to be pushing big time to repeal last-in first-out layoffs and he is going to find a friend in Andrew Cuomo. 

  • Bronx Teacher

    Good. Maybe they’ll lay off the 5 full time “Master” teachers in our school who don’t teach a single class, but do nothing but create useless PD’s, and go around criticizing people’s classrooms.

  • Gates

    I thought they said the size of the classroom is increasing interms of teacher per student ratio!they don’t care about our students they jus want to know there are somebody at school to drop there child off jus babysitters and nannies they looking for so that the city doesn’t come to a stand still !!

  • Jeff S

    You know if a certain unqualified, arrogant lawyer who spent 8 years masquerading as an educator was still in charge, what we would be hearing today is a call to get rid of the ATR’s and change the lay off order so they would be able to get rid of senior teachers (the last few words the true meaning of what he said all the time). But I wonder if Ms. Black has any clue what an ATR is or what the law says about lay offs? And of course we all know these threats have a way of suddenly disappearing when crunch time comes.

  • ?

    Bravo, Queens Parent.  Bravo!
     

  • miss teacher

    I fear incongression is right- they are going to go after LIFO and HARD. Even Arne Duncan said he doesn’t want “talented young teachers” laid off. I don’t want talented young teachers laid off either, but I also know they will look to get rid of the highest paid vets should LIFO be ended.

  • miss teacher

    Oh, and Ms. Smith, interesting point. You have to love the timing of this announcement and its specificity- 6,100 teachers- really? I was remembering today when one of our UFT district people came and mentioned that our loss of parking permits was a result of the mayor not getting congestion pricing. If the Cathie Black waiver does not go through, I have a feeling we teachers will pay for it, somehow. (But I’ll be stunned if it doesn’t.)

  • Mustafa

    There is is absolutely no way to have fair objective layoffs other than by seniority.

    That’s what the Teach for America Educators for Excellence crowd will never understand because, for the most part, they don’t stay in the classroom long enough to see what it’s like to get on an administrator’s sh!t list.

  • http://www.classsizematters.org Leonie Haimson

    This is awful news which we’ve all got to fight.

  • Teacher of LD kids

    I agree with queensparent. And I’ll say it again and again – not only should they all be crammed into the same small room but that room should have NO AIR CONDITIONING, NO WORKING PHONE, AND A COMPUTER THAT IS SO OLD IT SEEMS LIKE IT CAME STRAIGHT OUT OF THE FLINTSTONES’ HOUSE. I think they should be forced to share such a room with all of the special needs kids who were DUMPED by the charter school system and left out in the cold by the partitioning of large schools into smaller boutique schools. Oh, and speaking of charter schools, how much of His Holy Highness’s budget cuts will be felt by the likes of Moskowitz & Co.?

  • Mustafa

    I’ve solved the budget crisis…how about charter schools, already situated in public space, have to pay for use of the building?

  • Charter

    How will this impact charter schools?

  • FormerTeacher

    @Mustafa (kinda)

    LIFO doesn’t just harm the TFA crowd — there are young teachers (or former teachers, as they case is now for me) out there who went through the certification process, expecting to contribute to the world of education, only to find out that the NYC public school system doesn’t want us. I’m not saying that LIFO is all bad — it’s certainly “fair,” and I don’t necessarily have an alternative — but there are young teachers out there that are NOT TFA/Teaching Fellows/Alternative Certification folks, but nobody (anywhere!) seems to think we exist! If I tell anyone that I’m a teacher, because I’m under 25 they assume I must be in TFA etc…and it seems like the TFA folks can get a job easier than I can! WTF?!

    Beyond that, the only option for a young teacher now is the world of charter schools, which is why I think so many of the crappy charter schools stay afloat. The hiring mechanism for young teachers is so impossible in the DOE that the hiring practices for charter schools are like heaven in comparison. Of course, teachers need jobs, so many of these schools have a continually replenished stock of teachers willing to sweep the problems under the rug, avoid organizing, work crazy hours for the same money, etc to make sure the jobs stay there. Parents hear about successful charters and assume they all are (HA) so no accountability there, and we all know the state/city/SUNY/??? isn’t really watching. And so teachers continue to work in unprofessional environments because it’s better than unemployment…

    The point is, the hiring mechanism for the DOE has far-reaching consequences. That said, I certainly support the fight for fairness as far as veteran teachers are concerned, and, believe it or not, I understand what it means to be on the administrator’s sh!t list as well — I was fired from one of those crappy charter schools for trying to make it better, and unable to find a position in a unionized school (fool me once…etc…) so I headed back to school for another degree. I just hope our educational community can find a way avoid the alienation that so many young teachers/educators feel these days. The fight that veteran teachers fought is a valuable and relevant one that led to great professional gains, and I think a lot of us have real respect for that (believe it or not). It would just be nice if we could work with you!

  • William P

    what happened to the Race To The Top award the city is going to receive.  Is that going to be spent on another 100 million dollar ARIS computer system.

  • Pingback: Mayor announces early 6,100 teacher layoffs for next year « Rina’s Weblog

  • ohohmrbill

    Here is easy solutin for education. Just quit now and hand your classrooms over to the Gulen Movement. Just google Gulen Charter Schools and do your research from there.

  • Teacher of LD kids

    To William P – I’d also like to know where the Contract for Excellence money went. It was supposed to be earmarked specifically for reducing class size. Instead, we now have “mandate relief,” allowing school teams (read: the Principal and/or Speech or Special Ed supervisor) to reduce speech mandates to 1 time per week instead of the current minimum 2 times per week, and allowing 14 children with IEPs into Integrated Co-Teaching classes instead of the current limit of 12. Do the math, if you dare.

  • Michael M.

    Is that 6,100 threatened layoffs before or after redirecting Contracts for Excellence funds? Again. And with Commissioner Steiner’s SECRET blessing.

    Take a walk down memory lane, way back to… OCTOBER, when news broke that Steiner’s been in Bloomberg’s pocket since at least Feb 23rd, some eight months earlier.

    “These [average class size] increases occurred despite the Education Department having received $2.1 billion in additional cash from the state under the Contract for Excellence since 2007.”

    http (colon) //www (dot) cfequity (dot) org/in_the_news/city_took_money_for_nothing_as_it_got_aid_to_cut_class_sizes (dot) php

  • Pingback: Shanker Blog » A Matter Of Time

  • Pingback: NYC Teacher Layoffs: Michelle Rhee’s Bipartisan, Countrywide March Towards Tenure Reform « News

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