Or any other teachers in the know.

I really don't know much about what is going on in the Texas Education world as far as jobs go, but I have been hearing a lot about teachers, especially young or new teachers losing their jobs due to cuts. What is going on here? Is this for certain going to happen, is this still being debated, or is this not likely?

If true, how many jobs are being cut and when?

TIA!

We have been told that in TISD, we will cut jobs through attrition.

No one discusses administration and that elephant in the corner, but that we have "too many counselors and too many teachers".

I don't think the young ones are in jeopardy, but I doubt there will be a tremendous number of hires.

On the other hand, my son teaches in CyFair and they were told that a lot of first/second year teacher types might be cut.

I also expect secretaries and other paraprofessionals to be cut, although it's doubtful anything would be cut in Special Ed. That seems to be a sacred cow in Texas.

In other words, we're expecting just cuts through attrition or making the teachers' load heavier. I definitely think that will happen.

[This message has been edited by janag81 (edited 2/28/2011 10:42a).]

Why is administration immune?

I have no idea, but I've heard nothing in regards to job cuts for them. Since I am not really "in the know" that doesn't necessarily mean it WON'T happen, but as of now, I've not heard of any administrative job cuts.

Ditto what Jan said. We are going to try to make the budget by attrition. We already did that with teachers who left last year--why I had to move to a new campus.

The other sacred cow in most schools is coaching positions.

I am worried for me and for my daughter who is a teacher in Arlington.

I know that we are already covering so many spots due to the attrition this year, that I worry about further cuts hurting education.

Don't expect admins to take a cut--they decide on staffing. Anyone think most supers are going to cut the people they work with every day?

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

The situation definitely sucks! I wish the budget cuts could be met with getting rid of the fat and BAD teachers instead of just a blanket firing of 1st/2nd year teachers that may be really good.

I guess that is what happens when the government is in charge.

Dont say that coaches are sacred cows.

Why dont you use the same tone towards coaches to theatre arts teachers/band directors and the like.

Evidence proves (numbers of participants/importance of athletic on kids educations) that athletics is important and so are the coaches involved.

Now if you want to complain that more need to be in the classroom for more period, I'd agree but dont make it out to be like coaches arent going to effected by this as well.



Sorry...off my soap box

I agree with bluto. People who don't understand the value of sports iritate me. Coaches work the longest hours of anyone on campus and are some of the biggest influences on student lives.

Lots of other mininformation in this thread as well. Administrators and special ed will be some of the first jobs to go or take pay cuts.

Killeen ISD has announced 150 cuts and said that most will be in special ed, administration, AVID, and other programs like that.

We were told they have things covered for this year but next year might be a different story....

I guess it is perspective. I love sports, and band, and theatre, but schools exist with the primary duty, job, and mission to educate. Everything else is icing.

To me the last thing that should be cut is academic core subjects. If we really think sports and extras are more important than education, then we are a messed up society.

And Killeen may be over staffed in Special Ed, but most districts are NOT. It is MANDATED that the needs of special education students be met. It is FEDERAL law.

For many districts there are no excess special education positions, and zero ability to cut the life skills classes, emotionally disturbed programs, or the classroom support for the ones with learning disabilities.
http://www.centraltexasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=14089239

This article mentions 75 teacher job cuts at middle and secondary--by having all teachers teach one more class. It does NOT mention any cuts in special eduction.




[This message has been edited by 3rd Generation Ag (edited 3/1/2011 7:40p).]

Nm

[This message has been edited by janag81 (edited 3/2/2011 3:34a).]

http://kutnews.org/post/data-app-visual-breakdown-aisds-proposed-1012-job-cuts

This is a quick look at Austin's job cuts. By type of job, campus and department.

It is a seriously bad situation for schools. Kids will be impacted.

Up here in Dallas we are all on pins and needles. No one is safe, sans the admins. It would be nice to know, but hopefully the govt will find a fix....soon.

That is the way it is in Arlington where my daughter teaches. No one is safe up there. Except admins.

Most SPED positions are funded by federal money to begin with. Whats draining districts is all the PreK 4 PreK 3 classes as well as aides. As a teacher/ coach, I dont want to see any teaching position cut. Idk about big schools but smaller ones could cut teachers aides, lunchroom staff, grounds crews, and custodial...Its ridiculous the amount of people that mooch off districts.

I agree Law, at my school, we have such a huge maintenance department and we are only a 3A. My campus probably couldn't lose any teachers without cutting maybe electives, we are pretty stretched already. All our core classes are large and no way we could cut the teachers down, if we were to cut a core teacher we would essentially only have one for that grade and subject, then if we cut elective teachers we are looking at having over 30 students in every class, I already have 2 classes with 29 in them as it is. We have a large support staff that could easily be contracted to save the district money on salary and benefits, I hate to say it, because a lot are good hard working people, we could just function fine without a lot of them.

We don't have extra where I work. Two men do all maintenance for three campus buildings. No way to cut transportation. Lunch staff does now seem to be over done, and we contract out custodial. One secretary per campus who also handles PEIMS stuff. Our campus has two aids--both used for special ed inclusion. And high school is the same--two, both for special ed.

We probably could cut the ISS person to a substitute rather than a staff person and that might save a little money.

Let me start by saying I want to see NO teachers, or ANY staff cut, have their pay cut, etc. because 1 it is horrible for the person that loses pay or loses their job and 2 because it hurts student learning and children. I honestly can't understand how the legislature thinks this will fix anything. Unemployment is going to skyrocket and that is horrible for the economy. Any money saved through cuts will come back and haunt us in so many ways it can't even be counted.

The next thing I would like to say is how tired I am of hearing people complain about how either how much money AD's or Administrators make. Those people have put in extra time and money for extra training that teachers have not. I can imagine most AD's and Administrators are empathetic toward teachers, because they have walked in their shoes. What aggravates me is teachers bashing their administrators or AD's when they have no idea what they had to do in order to obtain their aditional certifications or what they do every day.


Saw on another site the other day where West ISD is going to cut golf, tennis, and powerlifting and also are going to cut 4-6 coaching slots....stop complaining about there being no cuts to athletics...it is going to effect everyone everywhere!

[This message has been edited by Crusaders41 (edited 3/3/2011 9:14p).]

3rd year...coach...core teacher. However I think it has to do more with the new AD that came in, moreso than the economy.

State of Texas -

I'm sorry.

You've always appeared to be a quality young man. Best wishes to you and hang in there!

I am sorry to have any positions cut.

But the legislature is going to force these if they won't tap the rainy day fund.

And if a district MUST cut, then how can they justify cutting core subjects when extras and admins are not cut--and we are talking about districts in general.

MANY are not cutting any coaching slots.

Many are not cutting admin slots.

Our school has already cut this year--using attrition. I honestly don't see how we can cut more without it taking jobs. NO ONE wants to cut jobs, but when salary is over 80 percent of your budget, and when some things like fuel for school bus routes and costs of electricity and water can't be sliced, then somehow salaries have to go.

And when districts are paying AT or near state law lows, then salaries can't be cut unless the legislature reworks downward the minimum teacher scale.

Those outside of schools like to say cut the extra stuff, but many schools already did that to balance budgets for this year.

Now they may have to cut another 15 percent or more when there are NO extras to cut that will not hurt kids.

Belton is fortunate to be in the same situation as Temple. Opening up 2 new schools and normal attrition will stop us from having to make many if any cuts from my understanding.

it's still going to be tough.

State of Texas, sorry to hear that. I know a coach at THS who still doesn't know his fate entirely.

one thing that kills me is when a new coach is hired and everybody is excited and whoo hoo, we forget that that usually means a few good people are losing jobs simply because they are a part of the old guard. a good friend's brother was laid off w/ a big portion of Fran's staff in 07. while i was excited for Aggie football that he was gone, it brought some new perspective.

stinks for you man. praying you land on your feet!

I would say that it appears to me that most are cutting coaching slots and admin spots and freezing raises for any admins, coaches, etc. while teachers are on a salary schedule and get a raise no matter what, unless they happen to be at a school that pays over base, then they may not get a raise if the school freezes additional pay.

still excited about the new THS coach