Obama Calls for $60 Billion to Save Teacher Jobs, Fix Schools
President Barack Obama is calling for $30 billion in new money to stave off teacher layoffs, and $30 billion more to revamp facilities at the nation's K-12 schools and community colleges, as he outlines his vision for spurring the sputtering economy in a speech to Congress tonight.
K-12 schools could get up to $25 billion, which administration officials estimate could pay for makeovers of some 35,000 public schools. The money could be used for emergency repairs and renovations, energy efficiency updates, and asbestos removal. Schools also could use the money to build new science and computer labs, and to update technology. Rural schools would get special priority. Another $5 billion would go to help retool community college facilities. (For more on a possible legislative vehicle for the plan, click here.)
The money to avert teacher layoffs could save as many as 280,000 educators' jobs, senior administration officials estimated. To put the $30 billion in perspective, that's about twice as much as districts got from the
