By
Naomi Spencer
10 May 2013
Two neighboring school districts in Ypsilanti, Michigan, are in the midst of consolidation, a process that has left nearly 200 teachers and support staff jobless. Last month all 358 teachers from Ypsilanti Public Schools and the eastside Willow Run Community Schools received pink slips and were made to reapply for their jobs.
On Friday, May 3, teachers were handed envelopes informing them whether or not they would be offered positions with the new consolidated district, Ypsilanti Community Schools (YCS), in the fall. One-third of the teachers were informed that they were not accepted, or that they met the criteria of the district but that “there were no more positions available.” Those who did not receive job offers will be officially laid off on June 30.
The layoffs are the latest in a long series of cuts to the schools in Ypsilanti, a former industrial town just west of Detroit. Every year for the past decade, the districts have struggled with declining enrollment, lower per-pupil funding from the state, and collapsing tax revenue. Administrators have pointed to the multi-million-dollar debts of the school districts to justify staff reductions and wage cuts, higher health insurance premiums, the privatization of transportation and food services, the elimination of programs, and multiple school closures.
As a result, class sizes have risen, workloads have increased, and the cost burdens for “extras” like sports and fieldtrips have fallen more heavily on the overwhelmingly low-income families in the districts. Not surprisingly, thousands of Ypsilanti students have been enrolled in the numerous for-profit charter academies that have sprung up in the city, or have transferred to neighboring districts.
On Monday, Republican Governor Rick Snyder and President Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan made an appearance at Ypsilanti’s citywide Kindergarten to showcase education “reform.” The visit was carefully managed to exclude the public as well as teachers, parents, and students who might express outrage over the attack on their schools. One parent with four children enrolled in the district called the event a “drive-by photo-op” and “a deliberate slap in the face of our teachers.”
Across the state, district after district has fallen
This article originally appeared on : World Socialist Web Site