The beleaguered Philadelphia School District is poised to send out 3,800 pink slips to teachers and non-teachers in an effort to close a whopping $629 million budget gap (out of a total $3.2 billion budget). The teachers’ union got an emergency injunction to halt the layoffs of teachers, saying that they must be made in order of seniority.
“It’s not easy, nobody likes these kinds of layoffs to happen,” said Philadelphia Superintendent of Schools Arlene Ackerman.
Ackerman explained that pink slips were going to be issued for some 3,800 school personnel this week. That number includes roughly half of the central office, around 450 employees, along with approximately 2,200 teachers and teacher professionals, like nurses and reading specialists.
It’s all in an effort to help bridge a $629 million budget deficit.
“The pain of whose losing staff is being pretty much generated across the district in even proportion,” said Ackerman.
I don’t ever buy that layoffs should be made “in even proportion.” There are surely offices and priorities within PSD that are either overfunded/higher priority or underfunded/lower priority. Been there, done that in NYC schools. The result? Forcing equalized budget cuts makes a bad situation worse.
Read our editorial on the woes of Philadelphia School District.
Also, check out the cover of today’s Daily News. It’s a keeper.
