Laid-off Oklahoma Teacher to Congress: ‘Our Kids Need Your Help’

By Brian Washington Mitzi Ridinger, a teacher from Sallisaw, Okla., has joined the ranks of National Education Association members from Indiana, Illinois, North Carolina and California — who have all received pink slips — in urging their members of Congress to pass the Education Jobs Fund. Ridinger, a pre-K teacher at Greasy Elementary School located [...]

Facing Deep Cuts, One State Says ‘Enough is Enough’

By Cynthia McCabe Asked to do even more with even less — less funding, less staffing, less respect — Michigan educators said enough is enough last week. Their story is echoed across the country as educators eye the layoffs of an estimated 300,000 of their colleagues (and in some cases, themselves) due to state fiscal [...]

Educators Teach Congress the Meaning of ‘Layoff’

Brianna Clegg, a Stockton, California, fourth grade teacher, was having a fabulous day. She was being celebrated by the San Joaquin County Office of Education for being a “Teacher of Excellence” in English instruction and she was walking on air. “So I went home with my award in hand, opened my mailbox—and there was my [...]

College Students Suffer Graduation Delays Due to Education Jobs Crisis

By Brian Washington Imagine if it took six years to complete your undergraduate degree—in large part because you had to work three different jobs to finance your education. And then, just as you’re ready to graduate, you learn it will take another year before you complete your degree. Why? Because your university is scaling back [...]

Long Odds in Las Vegas

by Tim Walker Very few school districts in the United States have been hit as hard as Clark County, Nevada. As recently as 2007, the district, home to Las Vegas and the fifth-largest in the nation (300,000 students), was furiously building new schools and hiring new teachers to keep up with the region’s tremendous population [...]

Governors Join Fight for More Education Funding

By Brian Washington Governors are applying pressure to Congress and the White House to approve federal funding to prevent students from shouldering the impact of hundreds of thousands of education-related layoffs. So far, governors from Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Oregon have all written letters to their congressional delegations, leadership in the U.S. House [...]

Michigan Public School Gets Presidential Preference for Graduation

 By Cynthia McCabe President Barack Obama came to Kalamazoo Central High School to shine a spotlight on the students and educators who successfully campaigned to bring him to their school to deliver the Class of 2010′s commencement address. It was a much-needed boost for public school educators and students in a state where more than [...]

College Students Hit Hard by Job Cuts

By John Rosales Students are being turned away from higher education institutions in great numbers due to faculty layoffs. They are also unable to register for classes they need to graduate, and are not receiving basic campus services due to job losses to everyone from tenure-track professors and adjuncts to counselors, library and health care [...]

Education Job Cuts Slam a Massachusetts City

By Alain Jehlen Donna McNair is likely to lose her job, but she’s not mostly worried about herself. “My bigger concern is with the children who will suffer,” says this 10-year special education paraprofessional. “That’s who I feel the worst for. We’re adults and we’ll get through it, but the children don’t understand budget cuts.” [...]

Layoffs Strike at Heart of School

By Mary Ellen Flannery There are 11 teachers at El Crystal Elementary School, a small school in San Bruno, California, south of San Francisco. And this month, more than half of them – as well as the school’s sole support person — will be laid off because of budget cuts to education. “It’s just awful,” [...]

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