Since the 2008-09 recession, the possibility of massive teacher layoffs has been loomed over the nation's schools. The federal government has repeatedly come to the rescue providing funds first in the form of stimulus dollars, followed by last year's EduJobs. But a recent study shows the drastic layoff scenario never materialized.
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) surveyed 78 large urban school districts across the country, including Hartford, to determine whether large scale layoffs took place. The results from the 74 districts that responded indicate that about 2.5% of the teachers in these districts were actually laid off (or were probationary teachers who were non-renewed for budgetary reasons). Hartford came in near the study average, laying off 2.2% of its teachers heading into the 2011-12 school year. Some districts, especially in California, laid off as many as 20% of their teachers, but overall school districts found other ways instead of layoffs to tighten the belt. These included using EduJobs money, cutting positions through attrition, freezing teacher cost of living adjustments, and dismissing teachers without proper certification.
