275,000 education jobs in peril, study finds

Next school year, 275,000 education jobs in the U.S. will be cut, according to a study by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA).

The association surveyed its superintendent members in April to document the prospect of personnel cuts and hiring freezes for the 2010-11 school year.

More than half (53 percent) of the districts surveyed will freeze hiring. Eighty-two percent will cut and eliminate 27,516 education jobs, comprising:

• 14,878 teacher jobs,
• 2,582.5 support personnel jobs,
• 1,501 administrative jobs and
• 8,554.9 classified jobs.

Since the study’s sample size represented almost 11 percent of the nation’s school districts, AASA estimated that nationally 275,000 education jobs are on the chopping block for 2010-11.

The association pointed out that those 275,000 jobs represent 92 percent of the 300,000 jobs the Obama administration estimated were saved by last year’s stimulus act.

“Faced with continued budgetary constraints, school leaders across the nation are forced to consider an unprecedented level of layoffs that would negatively impact economic recovery and deal a devastating blow to public education,” AASA Executive Director Dan Domenech said.

The association noted that more than 48 million students will show up for school this fall, regardless of any federal action to stave off education job cuts.

The results of the survey “should be a clear call to action for Congress and the administration for continued federal support to help school districts stem the tide of the economic downturn,” said AASA President Mark Bielang, superintendent of Paw Paw (Mich.) Public Schools.

A separate AASA study released last month found, among other things, that 38 percent of districts plan to implement transportation cuts next school year.