Metro

Mayor Bloomberg warns of mass teacher layoffs

NEW YORK — New York City could lose $1 billion in education aid from the state, forcing the nation’s largest school system to cut more than 21,000 teachers, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday.

As Gov. Andrew Cuomo prepares to unveil next week his first budget proposal since taking office on New Year’s Day, Bloomberg and his new schools chancellor, Cathie Black, are bracing for what could be devastating cuts to city schools.

On his weekly radio show, Bloomberg stressed that he has yet to receive word of a definitive budget proposal from the governor. “Scuttlebutt is that the education budget will be cut statewide, and New York City’s share of that would be a billion dollar cut,” he said.

If the governor proposes a $1 billion cut and the legislature approves it, the mayor estimated the city would be forced to cut 15,000 teachers, most of which would be accomplished through layoffs. That is on top of plans, outlined by the mayor in November, to cut 6,166 teachers in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

In total, the administration is facing the specter of losing 21,000 teachers in the coming months — mostly through layoffs. An aide to the mayor warned that these numbers will change as negotiations with lawmakers over the state and city budget begin in earnest in the coming weeks.

The city’s Department of Education currently employs roughly 75,000 teachers.

A tenure rule in state law requires that the teachers hired most recently be the first to face layoffs. As a result, city officials estimate that every teacher hired during the last five years would be let go if the state moves forward with a $1 billion cut in aid to city schools.

Bloomberg said this tenure rule means the city will “have to part company with some of the best teachers.” And because new teachers are typically employed in communities that are struggling the most, these layoffs would “disproportionately hurt the schools with more minorities,” he said.

For more on this story, please go to The Wall Street Journal.