Despite Republican NC House Speaker Thom Tillis's lies to the contrary, hundreds -- thousands -- of NC teaching jobs have been lost to the Tea Party wrong-headedness of the new Republican majority in the NC General Assembly.
ProgressNC has the actual numbers of those jobs lost, county by devastated county.
Monday, September 12, 2011
The Real Numbers of NC Teaching Jobs Lost
Labels:
North Carolina budget,
public education,
Thom Tillis
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4 comments:
Jobs lost and teachers lost is not the same issue. Could you try to be just a little honest? Also of the teachers lost, how many were poor performers that needed to be fired?
Anonymous,
You're right - more jobs were likely lost than what's reflected in these numbers, since they don't reflect the fact that districts not only can't replace teachers they've lost, they also can't do any additional hiring that they might normally do to accommodate growing schools.
As for "poor performers," unfortunately the teachers let go were mostly newer teachers without the protection of tenure, and of course older teachers who retired and who were not replaced. We can certainly argue about the merits of tenure (I think it likely does protect some mediocre teachers but I also know it's not absolute protection the way many think it is) but I would guess the teachers let go were mostly enthusiastic recent college graduates. I feel very bad for today's 20-somethings. They are feeling the fallout for debts and policies they did not incur or vote for.
I have to question the validity of the numbers. A recent article in the Charlotte Observer claimed that the Char/Meck school district was ADDING 500 teacher this year over last year!
Note, I am not taking a position here as to the "right" number of teachers for NC. And, I also note that none were laid off in Watauga.
To anonymous #1: I have a friend that was Teacher of the Year from her school and she lost her job. How about you be more informed before you accuse people of not being honest.
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