Well, teacher layoffs are no longer a threat, they’re a reality.
Last Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a $65.7 million budget that amongst other things eliminates more than 6,100 teacher positions, 2000 of them through attrition.
"We are in better shape than most cities, but we are not an island,” Bloomberg said in a City Hall news conference. “We are not immune to the reality in Albany and in Washington. Both places are keeping more of our tax dollars to close their own budget deficits."
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In Bed-Stuy, one in 12 teachers around the city would be effected by the proposed layoffs.
“I think it’s a disgrace because our kids already don’t get what they deserve,” said Claudene M., a parent of a child at P.S. 93 on New York Avenue. “Education is the future. If we don’t invest in education we’re doomed.”
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Other parents expressed frustration at a school system they feel is already in dire shape.
“I don’t feel that they should be cutting any teachers, it’s limited as it is,” said Jamila Holmes, another parent whose child attends P.S. 93. “They should adding more if anything.”
The UFT has argued for months that the mayor does have the funds available to spare teacher cuts, claiming that Bloomberg has a $3.2 billion surplus at his disposal.
However, at the conference, new School Chancellor Dennis Walcott disputed the teacher union’s findings, saying that the surplus is actually $2 billion and the mayor tapped savings to “stave off even deeper cuts.”
This Thursday, the UFT along with other city unions, will march from City Hall and other locales to converge on Wall Street and demand that Bloomberg hold big financial institutions that were saved by the recent bailout accountable. The unions want the banks to pay more in order to prevent the budget cuts.
Still, that news holds little comfort to parents in Bed-Stuy.
“The cuts are horrendous because our children truly need to have teachers who are qualified and caring in the classroom,” said Feona Huff, a Bed-Stuy resident and parent of two public school students. “Bloomberg should tax corporations as opposed to cutting teachers.”
After dropping off her grandchild at P.S. 93, Theresa Andrew expressed some hope that a last-minute deal could be worked out to save the teachers because “the fewer teachers you have, it’s less attention that the children will get.”
Asked what the mayor should really be concentrating on, she was more direct.
“Creating jobs.”
