It’s not surprising that the eco has begun to affect our schools. LAUSD and other school districts were hit hard and had to make many tough choices: cut teacher positions and raise class sizes or find creative solutions.
Accordingly, the Fairfax administrators opted to save the jobs of fourteen teachers by using $1,176,000 of Title I money to pay the teachers’ salaries and keep classes relatively small. “But we won’t be able to use this money next year,” said Title I Coordinator Mr. Brian Dunbar.
Already, we lost custodians, clerks, and three other teachers this year. This will make the future of many teachers uncertain. “What happens next year is going to be the real problem,” said Principal Edward Zubiate.
LAUSD is cutting expenses especially salaries, leading to overcrowded classrooms and many teachers being transferred or displaced.
Unfortunately, California spends less than half of its funds on education, which is less than how much any other state in America spends on education. When further cuts occur, it will be even more difficult for LAUSD to survive.
According to Mr. Mike Stryer, the Unified Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) representative, “The most important thing that LAUSD can do right now is to maintain class sizes and use all available money from the general fund of about $7 billion to decrease class sizes,” said Mr. Stryer.
Although Fairfax ranks fourth in the district among schools and has one of the strongest academic reputations in the city, 200 fewer freshmen enrolled than expected, resulting in less budget and more layoffs. School officials believe that this may be a result of many new district and charter schools that opened this year.
Teachers are feeling the mounting pressure due to recent dramatic increases in class sizes. The schools’ tight budget results in many teachers being transferred to different schools or being forced to become substitute teachers. LAUSD’s layoff policy is based on seniority.
Mr. Stryer said this system should be used depending only on the circumstances. “UTLA will make sure if changes are needed when their contract expires on June 2010. A lot of negotiations and issues will be on the table on both sides,” said Mr. Stryer.
The consequences of having more students in classes are bad for the teachers as well. “When I was a teacher, teachers used to complain of having just thirty students in the class,” Mr. Zubiate remarked.
Now, teachers have to deal with an overwhelming number of fifty students at once. This means that teachers will have to grade as many as two hundred fifty papers, which is an unreasonable amount of work.
Superintendent Ramon Cortinez recently sent a plan to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposing a way to prevent further cuts to the district.