7,500 employees of New Orleans public schools Lose Their Jobs

USA Today reports:

About 7,500 employees of New Orleans public schools officially lost their jobs Tuesday, five months after they were put on unpaid leave in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“We are terminating our employees for one reason: We have no choice,” Orleans Parish School Board President Phyllis Landrieu said in a letter sent Tuesday to fired employees. They included teachers, staff and administrators.

There are 18 public schools educating 8,400 students in post-Katrina New Orleans. Before the storm, there were 117 schools with 54,000 students.

When tax dollars dry up government workers lose their jobs.