"Teacher seniority rules, job security threatened amid budget cuts" by Oliver Staley, Bloomberg News / March 27, 2011
NEW YORK — Public school teachers are facing the biggest challenge to their job security in more than half a century as politicians target seniority rules that make the last hired the first fired when jobs are cut.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat; and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, are among officials pushing for changes in laws in coming months to let them fire underperforming teachers.
As budget cuts threaten the jobs of thousands of school employees, officials are demanding the right to keep the most talented, even if they are the least experienced. The proposed changes may undercut the power of teachers’ unions. They intensify the debate on how to judge instructor effectiveness as US students lag behind international peers. As officials cut education budgets, they should focus on what is best for children, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.
“Layoffs based only on seniority don’t help kids,’’ Duncan said. “We have to minimize the negative impact on students.’’
And sending them off to die in wars based on lies rates where?
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Even as states cut billions from their budgets, federal officials and executives from Microsoft chairman Bill Gates to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke are lamenting the damage caused by education reductions....
Isn't that a slap in the face to teachers?
Why doesn't Bernanke just turn on that printing press and crank out $15 trillion for the schools like he did for Wall Street? Yeah, I know that's why your dollar is in the dumper, but....
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Also see: What recession? CEOs are being paid more than ever as millions of American's struggle to make ends meet
Saw that in my local, not the Globe.
