brandon wong | Staff Photographer
Southern California teachers march through Pershing Square in Los Angeles on March 4, 2010.
School districts had to notify teachers of their potential layoffs for next year by the deadline on March 15.
That day has come and gone, leaving many elementary and high school teachers with pink slips in hand. Layoffs have been particularly extensive in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), and the LAUSD has also announced a plan to cut five days from the academic calendar this year.
“By April, the schools should know their budget and bring [teachers] back in the summer,” Christina Giguiere, the multiple subject placement coordinator in the education department at UC Irvine, said.
Teaching jobs, traditionally considered stable, often come with the cyclical nature of state funding attached. According to Giguiere, pink-slipped teachers usually can expect to be rehired during the next school year.
With the current deficit however, preliminary pink slips will have a more final ring to them this year. Each district is millions of dollars behind in their budget, and a credentialed teacher, with salary and full medical coverage, costs about $80,000 a year. As a result, teachers, whose salaries make up 80
