District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee says budget cuts will force teacher layoffs and increase class sizes only weeks after classes began.
Ms. Rhee announced last week that budget problems will force up to $40 million in cuts for the school system. She did not say how many of the district’s 3,800 teachers would lose their jobs.
The chancellor says the 2010 budget passed by the District of Columbia Council is forcing cuts in the schools’ budget. The Council has been working to close a projected $666 million shortfall over the next three years.
Washington Teachers’ Union President George Parker said the cuts would be “devastating.” He questioned why officials hired 900 new teachers over the summer, only to announce cuts less than a month into the school year.
