Nearly 300,000 Teacher Jobs at Risk if Feds Don't Step Up, Big Districts Warn

Education Week reports:

Unless Congress provides a massive infusion of aid to help schools handle the fallout from the coronavirus, hundreds of thousands of teachers will lose their jobs and an "educational catastrophe" would result, warns an organization that represents large urban districts.

In a Tuesday letter to federal lawmakers, the Council of the Great City Schools echoes previous calls from other education groups for Congress to provide at least $175 billion in new aid for schools that would flow through the existing Title I federal formula that targets disadvantaged tudents. And the council also wants billions in new aid for Title I itself, special education grants, and remote learning services.

If that additional aid to offset significant cuts elsewhere isn't forthcoming as the economy craters, the council has a dire prediction.

"An estimated 20 percent loss in combined state and local revenues would likely result in some 275,000 teachers being laid off in big city public school systems alone," the superintendents tell Congress. "The ramifications are not only profound for the students involved, but for the nation. This educational catastrophe could weaken the country's economic foundation for years to come without significant financial support from Congress."

A spokeswoman for the group, Tonya Harris, said the figure of 275,000 teacher layoffs comes from "preliminary estimates" from some of the chief financial officers for districts represented by the council. However, Harris declined to share more information about those estimates. The letter was signed by the school superintendents for Atlanta, Baltimore, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami-Dade, New York City, and several others.

It's for the children.