Who said the Great Recession is over? Budget woes are still weighing down the Los Angeles Unified School District. Superintendent Ramon A. Cortines approved giving layoff notices to more than 5,000 teachers, administrators, and other staff members this week.
The nation’s second-largest school district may yet send pink slips to another 1,500 other district workers in an effort to close a $640 million budget gap, the Los Angeles Daily News reports.
While all of these people may ultimately not lose their jobs, the district has to notify employees before March 15 of potential layoffs. You can expect intense negotiations between the district and staff members’ unions over the cuts in the coming weeks.
My colleague Steve Sawchuk has a thoughtful take on the Teacher Beat blog about how seniority policies affect layoffs, and new evidence that teachers may not be in favor of layoffs by seniority as they once were.