President Obama is looking to send $30 billion to the states to stem the crush of teacher layoffs.
The proposal, unveiled Thursday night as part of Obama’s jobs agenda, goes far beyond a $10 billion measure he signed last August to minimize the downsizing of teachers and first responders. That legislation is estimated to have saved 100,000 positions, while the Administration estimates its current proposal will prevent up to 280,000 teacher layoffs.
Read the article and check out this portion of his speech on video:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/08/news/economy/Obama_teacher_jobs/
What I’m wondering about this band-aid is does it get us any closer to making the decisions that are right for our kids or does this funding perpetuate the practices that work against providing the best instruction for kids. I guess the question I have is WHOSE jobs will we save? Will we use diminished funding as an opportunity to prioritize which teachers should stay and which should go? Oftentimes in financial struggle we can “weed out” those practices and people that just don’t serve the organization well.
If I were to give Obama my two cents, I would tell him to encourage the states to use the money to further the abolishment of the “last in, first out” practice and the “dance of the lemon” practice where we push struggling teachers from one school to another (as if that dilutes the problem).
What do you think?