Report: Damage from Teacher Layoffs Could Linger for Years to Come

Looking back at similar cuts in 1970s, Public Advocate warns of long-term effects from threatened layoffs

As budget talks reach their final days, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio released a report outlining long-term consequences of the Administration’s proposal to eliminate 6,000 teachers. These layoffs are the largest since the 1970s fiscal crisis and data from that period shows that massive layoffs have consequences that linger long after the economy recovers. After firing 15,000 city teachers, guidance counselors and paraprofessionals in 1976 and 1977, New York City faced a prolonged period when it struggled to recover its pre-cut ratio of teachers to students, and faced extreme difficulty rehiring faculty that had been dismissed.

“If we learn anything from the cuts of the 1970s, it’s that dismantling a school system is a lot easier than putting one back together,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. “If we lay off thousands of teachers in this budget, we’re setting ourselves up for a painful period of decline. Parents need to call 311 and speak out to avoid history repeating itself.”

Based on data from the 1970s fiscal crisis, the report found:

• Teacher-student ratios could stay higher for years. Despite attempts to rehire teachers, schools had not recovered their pre-cut ratio of one teacher for every 18 students by 1982—six years after the cuts. Current class sizes have already increased over the past three years. Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott has conceded that layoffs will boost average class size by two more students. Those elevated levels could persist for many years.

• Teachers who are laid off often don’t come back. When New York City began to recover from the fiscal crisis and recalled 9,000 teachers, only 2,360 actually returned. New York City risks depleting its talent pool of trained teachers as those who are laid off seek work in other school districts or other sectors of the economy. Bringing faculty back once the economy improves will prove difficult, as a result.

By law, New York City must approve a budget by June 30.

Read the full report at: http://advocate.nyc.gov/files/TeacherLayoffsBrief.pdf

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