Monday, November 9, 2009

Education

On Education by U.S. News Staff

The Weak Economy Hits Dallas Teachers

October 20, 2008 10:29 AM ET | Eddy Ramírez | Permanent Link | Print

Higher costs have forced school districts nationwide to raise meal prices and cut field trips. Now teachers are falling victim to the weak economy. Some 375 public school teachers lost their jobs in Dallas last week. District leaders argued that they had no choice but to lay off teachers, along with hundreds of other school employees—more than 1,000 in all—to help stave off a projected $84 million budget shortfall.

The Dallas Morning News has video of elementary school students crying uncontrollably over teachers who were fired. The layoffs, which most people in the district knew were coming, still caught some teachers by surprise. One high school teacher says he was summoned out of class, fired, and then sent back to pack his belongings as his students watched. In addition to initiating layoffs, the district is shifting some 475 teachers among the different schools.

It's not yet clear how the massive reorganization will affect students. For now, the focus is on the teachers; the district has hastily organized a job fair to help its laid-off employees find work. One school district in the greater Las Vegas area has expressed interest; it needs nearly 400 teachers. "Simply stated, hallelujah," the head of the largest teacher association in Dallas told the paper when asked about the prospect of work in Las Vegas.

Tags: Texas | economy | public schools | teachers

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Reader Comments

economy

OKay seriously , this is just dumb

so many teachers ar losing there jobs.

and they obviously dont understand

how it could effect us teens..i mean come on now

there is a HUGE impact on students..with less teachers

there's more kids in classes and more

slakers..so its completely unfair to the students

who NEED to pass that class but the teachers are

simply distracted by the class clowns.

therefore,we dont get to learn to our best

advantage unlike previous students

who were in school..its COMPLETELY unfair.

And its only the students of this generation we HAVE to suffer the consequences because of the sucky economy...(and the teacherrs)

Teachers are over paid!

Teachers are way over paid; In my area most are husband and wife teams, our Super-Intendant of School made over $165,000.00 and his wife an English teacher $55,000 a year. Add it together under one house hold tax payers dished out close to a quarter of a million dollars. When I went to school, the teachers had the puddy up cars, wrinkled shirts and barely made $12 grand a year and many were quitting and taking factory jobs. Thanks to Ronald Reagan and his Union busting blue collar jobs, the teachers who worked in Union factory's learned the Union ways and took it back to the school district. Now the Teachers have the strongest Unions (one Reagan forgot to ax). The human brain can only remember and obsorb so much! Use it or lose it! Some think tank came up with the most stunning way to suck money out of tax payers! The once upon a time one room school house, chalk board tablets, where reading, writing, and arithmatic was all anyone needed. Then off to work we go! Nobody wants to work these days, some students never leave college! Teachers only have to work 9 months out of the year, all weekends off, all paid holidays, and all summer off, plus several personal days and sick days and they are allowed to roll them over to the next year (in my school district). Teachers have the best insurances, dental and health care plans (in my area). Some people argue the way kids are today teachers deserve the pay? Well, in my area they use medicated paddles putting high energy children on medications. Older kids caught smoking are fined and sent the magistrates office, same way with skipping school. In my days the school principle handled kids. Teachers have teacher aids to help correct papers, god forbid one gets a paper cut. I used to find it amusing when they would kick a teenager out of school, charge them with smoking as the teachers room used to reek of cigaretts and puffs of smoke would filter out after each teacher would enter or exit the teachers room (smoking bans have corrected that problem). The once driven Ford Pinto by John Doe the English Teacher has now been traded in for a Viper or a Hummer, and Mrs. Doe drives a Caddy. Mean while were all eating hot dogs and macaroni and cheese drolling over the teachers steak and potatoes. My pay check dwindles while their Union sucks it out of us and their pay checks increases all the way to the bank! Who has the ACCESS cards, puddy up cars, wrinkled cloths now? WE DO NOT THE TEACHERS! Who ever the think tank is who thought up the best plan to con tax payers out of their paychecks by calling us stupid if we don't get a education graduating and finding out were still stupid for allowing this to happen in the first place. Learn a trade, learn to work hard and not pan all the jobs to China and Japan or Tawain who are willing to do our jobs for us. The Amish only go to 8th grade and still hold true to the reading, writing and arithmatic skills and off to work they go! Education $$$ tax payers!

Dallas teachers

Surely, the economy has had an effect, but the layoffs in the Dallas school district were directly tied to an $84 million "budget error"

not the economy.

Check it out at dallasmorningnews.com

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About On Education

Report cards may come out only twice a year, but education news happens every day. Here is where U.S. News writers grade the latest developments, from school districts banning the game of tag to congressional debates that affect college affordability. Check regularly for the most recent updates.

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