Today at noon, Mayor Bloomberg will give his annual budget address -- the last before the November election. The mayor's budget is expected to include 23,000 job cuts, nearly a billion in new taxes, and other "doomsday" strategies to stanch a $4 billion budget gap. (Slim consolation in the Times' report that things aren't quite as bad as they could be.)
Earlier this week, Chancellor Klein testified in Albany that up to 15,000 education jobs are at risk; in a statement yesterday that echoed Klein's threat (and, possibly, predicted similar challenges for organizations like New York City Teaching Fellows), Teach for America's New York office announced drastic cutbacks in recruitment and funding. GothamSchools has details here; their prediction that there won't be too many eager 22-year-olds teaching in the city's schools come September seems entirely plausible. (Of note, more of the new teachers who do get hired will likely be placed in charter schools, which characteristically feature longer workdays and a longer school year -- and, rarely, union protection. The truism of sending the least-proven teachers into the toughest settings is, unfortunately, looking all too true again.)
Tune in here to watch the Mayor speak.
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