LA school board votes to lay off 5,400 employees

[Pale Blue Dot]

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Board of Education has voted to lay off as many as 5,400 teachers and support personnel for the upcoming school year.

The vote came Tuesday as employees protested raucously outside the meeting. The board had voted hours earlier to save the jobs of 1,996 elementary school teachers using federal stimulus funds.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest school system, faces a $596 million budget shortfall for the 2009-10 school year.

The final number of layoffs remains to be determined because the exact amount of state and federal funds coming to the district remains unclear.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iLOIIbPucUtteDd1YmIzfLco5xyAD97IJ1381

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This is happening to a lesser or greater degree with school systems all over the country.

[Earth_First]

1. Happened to us here last year to preemptively tackle our school budget...

Guess which programs took the hit.

Guess which programs took a 4% budget increase.

[Pale Blue Dot]

2. My urban district is laying off 250.

I'm safe this year, who knows about next.

[saigon68]

Let me guess

Music and Art took a hit

Sports got an increase?

[Pale Blue Dot]

4. In my district it was music, art, counselors, and, believe it or not, PE.

Everything except core classes are being gutted.

[No Elephants]

3. Wake up, America. Your priorities are so screwy, it isn't funny.

[slackmaster]

6. California spends way too much on prisons and not enough on schools

Our "three strikes" law has backfired in a big way.

[saigon68]

7. Lots of minorities to sweep from the streets

They are trying to "whiten up" the place

[kenfrequed]

5. This is insane.

This is part of the problem. We are shucking the things that are probably the most important (educating and raising our children) in favor of whining, tax dodging, wealthy, tea bagging bastards.