Where do we go from here? Austin area teachers get layoff notices, so what will follow?

By: Prajinta Sthapitanonda-Pesqueda

The Austin Independent School District plans to lay off more than 1,000 employees, and many teachers received notice this week that they will join the ranks of the unemployed in a few months. 771 campus jobs are expected to be cut out of approximately 12,000 people who work for the district. So what are the consequences of these massive layoffs? Some, including city officials, believe the impact will be negative on the economy for the city of Austin. If schools are pushing out teachers, those students have to go somewhere. Many families cannot afford to pay tuition for private schools in a deeply troubled economy and more importantly, many private schools are already filled to capacity with waiting lists for admission. Quite simply, that means larger class sizes and higher student :teacher ratios. And we all know what that means. The quality of instruction and the level of learning will decrease. Incoming business and industry look at schools when considering a community, and the condition of our schools would certainly be a deterrent to investment in this area. Newly unemployed teachers cannot find teaching jobs in other schools districts in the area because every school in Texas is experiencing similar problems. Dallas metro has announced widespread layoffs, most school districts in San Antonio report hiring freezes, and other districts share similar problems. There may be a few math, science, SPED, or bi-lingual jobs leftover in June or July that will be up for grabs, but everyone else is out of luck. Teachers who have been RIFFED (Reduction In Force) within the district are shuffled around to fill any vacancies from attrition, but it is like a game of musical chairs. When the music stops, if you dont have a chair, you are out of the game. Other districts in the area like Hutto ISD recently offered incentive stipends to teachers who voluntarily resign; however, it is a Catch 22 situation. If they resign, they are ineligible for unemployment benefits in most circumstances, and for many, when the shock and denial wears off, they will see the reality that there are no teaching jobs and unemployment may very well be their only lifeline for the coming year. Many teachers are the head of household and their income is not expendable. It may not be unusual to find these teachers working multiple unskilled labor jobs in order to survive. The impact on the economy of Austin and Texas as a whole cannot be underestimated. When we examine current statistics, the numbers already pose serious challenges. Factor in the current actions to trim the deficit and you have a recipe for disaster! How can we accept this? Please consider the implications because the crisis in education is not only statewide, but also nationwide.

The following statistics are provided by a report from the Texas Legislative Study group on the state of our state. http://texaslsg.org/texasonthebrink/ 87 percent of children whose parents do not have a high school degree live in low-income families, compared to 30 percent of children whose parents have some college education. 47 percent of Texas children live in low-income families. Texas is ranked 42nd in residents age 25-35 with an associates degree or higher. Texas currently ranks 42nd in the number of high school graduates going to college, with 55.4 percent. 50 percent of college freshman in Texas are enrolled in remedial or developmental classes, compared with 28 percent across the U.S. Texas funds only 32 percent of need-based financial aid, as opposed to 89 percent by the top-investing states. With numbers like these, how can we have hope that our children will be able to compete in a global economy or achieve security and success? Our policy makers and economic strategists clearly do not make education a priority. There is a lot of lip service, but their actions do not support their rhetoric. If education matters, everyone will agree to do whatever it takes to rescue our teachers, our students, our schools, and our future.

If we do nothing except shake our heads and turn our backs, there will be fewer and fewer chairs in the game, and a lot of unfortunate individuals who will be losers when the music is over.