Maryland District, Teachers Clash Over Use of Furloughs

By Meg Sommerfield

The Prince George's County (Md.) Board of Education and the local teachers' union clashed last week when the district rescheduled a week of employee-furlough days to avoid paying teachers unemployment benefits for the time off.

The 110,000-student district in the Washington suburbs had announced plans to close schools down for the whole week of the Feb. 17 Presidents' Day holiday as a cost-cutting measure.

But the board reconsidered the timing of the furloughs after leaders of the Prince George's County Educators' Association said teachers would demand unemployment benefits for the week off. A week's benefits for its idled teachers and other employees would have cost the district at least $2 million,...