The ‘successful’ teachers’ strikes in Denver, Oakland and elsewhere that have made headlines are leaving a wake of layoffs as districts are left to contend with the costs.
Although the teachers’ unions declared victory in the strikes they launched in Denver, CO and Oakland, CA earlier this year, the aftermath of those strikes are proving quite costly.
In Denver, the new schools superintendent, Susana Cordova, has had to “cut more than 220 positions in the district’s central office, in part to pay for higher teacher salaries,” according to Chalkbeat.
The cuts will impact some services available to schools.
The changes amount to a net reduction of about 150 central office jobs and a savings of $17 million. Some of the money will be funneled into the higher teachers salaries promised by a new agreement reached this month between the district and teachers union after a three-day strike.
Like Denver, a similar story is unfolding in Oakland as hundreds “school clerks, library workers and other staff will receive layoff notices in coming weeks as the school district grapples with the expense of the contract concessions that settled the seven-day teachers strike this month, the school board has decided.”
“The layoffs of 257 ‘full-time equivalent’ positions are part of a $22 million cut from next year’s budget,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
In the State of Washington, the Puyallup School District will be increasing class sizes and making reductions to its workforce for the 2019-20 school year in order to pay teachers’ increased salaries that were fought for last year.
Elsewhere in Washington, the Port Angeles School District is also laying off staff to pay for increased teachers’ salaries.
As teachers across the nation continue to push for higher salaries and school districts agree to those demands, school budgets become strained. As a result, cuts seem inevitable.
