In an earlier post on this blog I wrote about the massive pink slip party that school districts engaged in, due to the rotten state of the economy. This overstimulated flurry of pink slips to classroom teachers, in California, went out to 26,000 teachers. I think now, as I thought then, that districts in general overreacted to the funding picture. It isn’t that they didn’t have reason to be very conservative in their outlook. In California, schools are funded by taxpayers, and our general fund fills based on how many children are enrolled, and then filtered by how many show up each day. Proposition 98 established a floor for funding the schools in California. In some circumstances, this floor can be sidestepped. Districts had to assume more than worst case scenarios in looking to the 2009-2010 school year, while hoping that some help would show up from the feds and the state. The President, and our Governor, said that stimulus money would soon reach the states, and the states would then begin spending it. I challenged them to prove their dedication to the schools, and make sure that the money actually reached into the school system to do some good. Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, was also stating that education was a priority, not to worry. So, the question arises, has the money done any good yet? I very much doubt that the President, our Governor, or Arne Duncan read anything on this blog and acted accordingly. However, in a small part of the entire national system. I know that the release of stimulus funds has reached into classrooms. Pink slips have been rescinded, and some teachers know that they will be teaching next year. One district sent out pink slips to about 500 teachers, going back a little over 8 years and laying off everyone back to that time. Last week, that district, due directly to a better financial picture as a result of stimulus funds, notified a good portion of the 500 that their pink slips were rescinded. I am hopeful that this type of action is going on throughout this state, and the rest of the United States. I do believe that it is important for the health of this country to keep our schools staffed with that dedicated group of individuals we call teachers. Overloading classrooms by laying off teachers is quite simply a very bad idea, in the short run and the long run. Thank you Mr. President, and our Governator, for releasing enough money for us to do our jobs in our classrooms. It remains up to us, the teachers, to make sure that this is money well spent.

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