Nearly 20,000 Teacher Pink Slips Statewide Show Drastic Need for More Education Funding
Contact: Mike Myslinski at 408-921-5769 (cell) mmyslinski@cta.org
BURLINGAME – Nearly 20,000 teacher pink slips have been issued as of today, the state’s legal deadline, according to CTA estimates based on reports from school districts across California.
“When you issue thousands of layoff notices for educators, you are hurting students,” said Dean E. Vogel, president of the California Teachers Association. “The wave of education layoff turmoil brought on again by state cuts is rolling through classrooms and the families of our students. When you continually lay off teachers, you break the bonds of learning, and you send the message that education is not a priority in our state.”
California ranks 47th in per-pupil public education spending. The pink slips show the urgent need for more state revenue, Vogel said, and they are the fallout from more than $20 billion in public education cuts to schools and community colleges in the past four years. While the layoff notices are preliminary pink slips, and school districts have until May 15 to decide on final teacher cuts, many district budgets are already cut to the bone.
Final pink slip data is still coming in, but 206 school districts had reported at least 19,500 educator pink slips as of today. The 10 California school districts issuing the most layoff notices are: Los Angeles