- CHICAGO (Reuters) -- Many
U.S. public school districts are starting a new school year with fewer
teachers as less state funding and other factors leave them with gaping
budget holes and nothing else left to cut but instructors, school and teachers
union officials say.
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- Some states, still struggling to leave the economic slowdown
behind them, have reduced funding to schools or shaved promised funding
increases because of their own budget troubles, the officials said.
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- Schools also blame the teacher layoffs on inadequately
funded federal educational mandates, soaring health care and utility costs,
competing charter schools and reluctance by voters to boost local funding.
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- Fewer teachers could boost class sizes and eliminate
programs not considered to be core subjects for students like art and music,
education advocates said.
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- The National Education Association has seen tens of thousands
of teacher layoffs with some due to state budget cuts dating back to last
year, according to Daniel Kaufman, a spokesman for the union, which represents
more than 2.7 million primary and secondary school teachers.
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- "The last two years have been a very difficult time
for public schools," he said. "Many tried to avoid cutting teachers
and cut in other areas."
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- The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 is another
problem, Kaufman said, contending the program was inadequately funded and
hurting school finances.
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- "They are required to do more without the funding
they need from the federal government," he said.
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- The federal law requires annual student testing, training
and hiring of qualified teachers and school accountability measures that
allow students in failing schools to move to better schools.
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- In Ohio alone, the shortfall for implementing the federal
program has been pegged at $1.5 billion a year.
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- OHIO VOTERS NIX TAX HIKES
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- That state also lacks a remedy for its school funding
system, which has been ruled unconstitutionally inadequate and unfair by
the Ohio Supreme Court.
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- More than 3,000 Ohio teachers lost their jobs this summer,
according to Michele Prater, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Education Association.
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- She said districts were forced to let teachers go after
cutting other things like extracurricular activities.
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- "Everything that could be cut has been cut,"
Prater said.
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- Meanwhile, Ohio voters are becoming increasingly reluctant
to back higher taxes for schools. Just a quarter of the 103 school tax
issues on the Aug. 3 ballot passed, according to the Ohio Department of
Education.
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- For the Cleveland Municipal School District, a $100 million
budget deficit led to two rounds of teacher layoffs totaling more than
700, although negotiations over union concessions could restore about 95
of those jobs.
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- The result will be bigger class sizes for the district's
70,000 students, with elementary classes growing from 19 to as many as
25 students and middle and high school classes mushrooming from 25 to 30
students, said school district spokesman Alan Seifullah.
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- Oregon school districts have chopped 2,000 teachers over
the last two years as high unemployment ate into the state's income tax
collections.
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- Detroit Public Schools will begin its new school year
with 1,300 fewer teachers due to budget troubles, although some laid off
teachers may be called back to fill jobs vacated through an employee buyout
program.
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- Minneapolis Public Schools reduced its teacher ranks
by about 600 to close a budget gap caused by inadequate state and federal
funding and declining enrollment.
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