…the sad news is that this has become an annual event like the holiday pageant and testing.
Darsha Philips | KABC News | http://bit.ly/i6nzYg
25 April 2011 - DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles Unified School District is set to begin its annual hearings on teacher layoffs on Monday.
Many teachers are expected to take part in the hearings to address how the cuts will affect students.
Staffers and community members are looking to new LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy for answers to what many are calling a crisis in our schools.
More than 5,000 preliminary layoff notices have been handed out to staffers in the district - most of them going to teachers.
The Reduction in Force hearing will address the layoff notices as well as the district's $400 million budget deficit in the loss of federal stimulus money.
The layoff notices were set to be finalized by May 15 but may extend into June depending on the length of the RIF hearing.
Teachers argue that if the layoffs go through, it would severely hurt student learning by raising class size and reducing the number of teachers, librarians, nurses and other professionals.
In 2010, the district had federal stimulus money that helped pay for 2,000 teachers, but that money is no longer available. There is still hope that the state will put forth a funding initiative, but there is no guarantee that it will get on a June ballot.
Deasy said the district proposed a one-year emergency fix that combined furlough days and borrowing a sum from a surplus. He said the plan would rescind 80 percent of the layoff notices for at least one year. However, he said the teachers union, UTLA has yet to accept that offer.
"I think one year of employment is better than unemployment," said Deasy. "We need our teachers and we need our principals and our classified workers. We need our union to come to the table in partnership and save their membership."
If the layoff notices hold, thousands of teachers and school professionals will be let go effective June 30.
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