Last Friday March 13th was the deadline day for school districts to issue potential layoff notices to teachers for the next school year.
This early notice date was put into law by the teachers’ union and is now used by the teachers’ union as an excuse to complain about school budgets. In an abundance of caution, districts will issue notices to a number of teachers. The number is not important, but what is important is that these are not pink slips, not actual layoff notices, nor any notice that requires any action. It’s not even close to the private sector where the employer can layoff people with little or no actual notice.
Another teacher union law requires school districts to finalize any actual layoffs by May 15th whether or not they have any idea of what the state budget looks like or what next year’s enrollment might be.
Historically no district with a stable or growing enrollment has laid off any classroom teacher no matter how badly the state budget treated government schools. I would be surprised to hear of any district actually laying off classroom teachers this year either.
But right or wrong I will give you an update after May 15th.