D.C. Public Schools officials will lay off teachers and staff at the end of September to shore up a multimillion-dollar shortfall in the school system’s budget, Chancellor Michelle Rhee said Wednesday.
Rhee estimated the district could be short as much as $40 million, but said an amount would not be certain until the official enrollment was determined in October. How many employees will lose their jobs is impossible to estimate because different schools will deal with their cuts differently, she said. One principal might choose to lay off a teacher making $100,000, while another might lose three classroom aides each making $33,000.
Washington Teachers’ Union officials, furious about the timing of the cuts, lashed out at Rhee for nurturing a fear among veteran teachers that she is trying to sweep them out of the system.
Announcing the cuts three weeks into the school year “at best reflects extreme mismanagement and a lack of transparency,” said union President George Parker.
Rhee said every school system went through the fall balancing act between enrollment and funding and that announcing cuts in September instead of October caused fewer disruptions. Parker also questioned how reductions came to be needed after the schools hired about 900 new teachers over the summer — a fact he called “mindboggling.” According to the school system, principals made their final hires in July based on spring estimates of how much money they would have. Then in August, the D.C. Council announced more cuts. Rhee said it was too late to fire new hires at that point, whether teachers or secretaries or custodians. “We had to give every employee an equal shot at proving themselves in that school — that’s what was fair,” she said. Parker took umbrage with that idea, asking, “How do you prove yourself in just four weeks?” Principals have been instructed to treat each employee equally when handling firings, regardless of tenure. Not all schools will need to make cuts. About 45 percent of schools have exceeded enrollment projections and could receive more money. About 70 percent of schools are at least 95 percent full, and 85 percent are at least 85 percent full.
