Los Angeles has the nation's second-largest public school system after New York City. The district has dismissed ten to twelve percent of its staff during the past two years. About half of those laid off were teachers, says John Deasy, the head of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
JOHN DEASY: "The recession has had an enormous impact on the state budget and we have had a huge drop in funding."
An education professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, John Rogers, says other states have also laid off teachers.
JOHN ROGERS: "Some projections estimate that across the country, one hundred sixty thousand teachers have received layoff notices this spring."
But he says the situation in California is worse because the state was already facing a budget deficit before the recession. Also, California was spending less per student than the national average.
Primary and secondary schools in California receive most of their funding from the state government. AJ Duffy is president of the United Teachers Los Angeles union. Mr. Duffy says the amount of funding each year depends on the economy.
AJ DUFFY: "In the past two and a half to three years, we have lost twenty billion dollars in funding for public education."
And Superintendent John Deasy expects more changes if the state budget does not improve.
JOHN DEASY: "We are cutting all of our librarians, our nurses. We would be forced to close and consolidate schools."
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25