Casualties of the recession: Southern teachers

When the economy takes a nosedive, the last thing state leaders want to cut is schools and teachers.

In fact, avoiding such cuts was one of Congress' top priorities when it passed the stimulus bill this spring: The package included about $100 billion earmarked for education, a 235% increase in federal education spending from 2008.

But a new report on how states are using stimulus dollars finds that many schools, especially in the South, are slashing school budgets -- and teacher positions -- in the wake of the recession.

Among the findings of the Government Accountability Office report [167-page PDF] released yesterday:

* 32 percent of local school districts nationally are expected to cut teacher and school jobs, even with the boost from federal stimulus funds.

* 16 states were profiled in-depth in the GAO report; Out of those, the three states making the deepest cuts in school jobs were in the South: Georgia, Florida and North Carolina. In those states, 55% or more of Local Education Authorities [LEAs] are cutting school jobs; the national state average is just over 30%.

* In Georgia, nearly two-thirds of local school districts are cutting jobs. As the GAO reports:

[I]n Georgia 65 percent of LEAs reported that they expected to lose jobs even with [stimulus] funds, and 39 percent of LEAs also reported they experienced a total decrease in funds of 5 percent or more. State education officials in Georgia said that declining state and local revenues have forced many LEAs to cut their budgets and eliminate programs, resulting in a loss of jobs.

* In states like North Carolina, larger school districts have been especially hard-hit: Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools have had to slash 769 positions even after recovery funds had been accounted for.

Even more troublesome is that states that haven't slashed schools jobs may have to in the future. AP reported yesterday that Alabama school districts ended the last fiscal year $222 million in the hole. State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton said that localities had "emptied savings accounts or borrowed from banks" to stay afloat, but without more help the 2010-2011 school year will be "the most difficult yet."

These urgent realities support the argument that boosting federal aid to states should be a central part of any future Washington jobs program and recovery plan.