School Districts Are Preparing To Lay Off Thousands Amid Coronavirus-Related Budget Shortfalls
Big city districts have warned that they may have to cut as many as 275,000 staff members combined as tax revenue plummets due to economic shutdowns.
Robert Runcie, superintendent of Broward County Public Schools in Florida, is currently preparing for a disaster.
It’s not related to the multitude of logistics required in transitioning hundreds of thousands of students to distance learning after the coronavirus pandemic closed all of the district’s hundreds of schools. It’s the school budget cuts that could come next, a result of sharp state and local revenue shortfalls after the crisis stopped the American economy in its tracks.
“It’s going to be really dramatic,” Runcie, whose district is the sixth largest in the country and serves more than 260,000 students, said of the potential cuts.
On Tuesday, Runcie was one of more than 60 superintendents to sign a letter to congressional leaders warning that big urban school districts could be forced to lay off as many as 275,000 teachers unless the federal government intervenes. The schools are in desperate need of funds because they’re facing an estimated 20% loss in local and state revenues, according to the letter, sent under the banner of the Council of the Great City Schools.
School districts were already anticipating a difficult year. Their students have endured months of academic interruption, potentially losing months of learning. Schools are scrambling to find ways to pay for unexpected coronavirus-related expenditures as their buildings have turned into community feeding hubs around the country. Millions of parents have lost their jobs, leading to home-life upheaval for kids. The sudden loss of staff could turn a bad situation into a disaster.
“The ramifications are not only profound for the students involved, but for the nation,” says the letter, which includes the signatures of the superintendents of New York City’s and Los Angeles’ schools. “This educational catastrophe could weaken the country’s economic foundation for years.”
Individual school districts are primarily funded through a combination of state and local CONTINUE READING: School Districts Are Preparing To Lay Off Thousands Amid Coronavirus-Related Budget Shortfalls | HuffPost
