Last spring we reported that the Department of Education issued a ban on hiring new teachers due to budget cuts. Instead, principals were urged to hire teachers from the pool of excessed teachers -- those who lost their jobs due to schools closing, or staff cuts, but who continue to receive a full salary, even though they are not in the classroom.

A week into the new school year, Chancellor Klein reiterated his call for principals to hire excessed teachers. In his weekly letter to principals, Klein said there are 1,500 teachers in the excessed pool, 500 more than last year. "This is a fiscal liability in this budget climate, and we must reduce it," he writes. He goes on to point out there are 1,100 teacher vacancies in the city's schools.

Klein imposed a hiring deadline of Oct. 30 and insists that most vacancies be filled with "internal staff." For those schools which are unable to fill the positions by that date, the DOE "may be be forced to take back the dollars budgeted for those positions to pay for the increase in teachers in the excess pool." <!--more-->

These mandates fly in the face of the mayor and chancellor's moves to grant more autonomy to principals; however, Klein maintains they are necessary to "control costs." "Nobody dislikes this situation more than I do," Klein writes. "Limiting your hiring freedom goes against what I stand for, but because of the economic reality we must control costs and protect our schools from deeper budget cuts.

According to WABC News, Klein would like to negotiate a time limit for how long teachers can stay in the reserve pool when the teachers' union contract comes up for renewal in October. But before then, there will be hiring fairs in all boroughs. The fairs are mandatory for all excessed teachers; principals are strongly encouraged to attend.

Since these are just the latest in a series of hiring fairs, it may be that the teachers in the pool do not meet the requirements of the schools looking for teachers. With the already steep budget cuts, and higher class size all around, principals may not welcome the added pressure of choosing from a limited pool of applicants.