Discuss how the stimulus money should be used.
Teachers at Manual Arts High School Protesting Layoffs
School officials are trying to figure out whether federal stimulus money must, can or should be used to avoid teacher layoffs. There have been different opinions on how the stimulus money to fund education should be used. UTLA states that the stimulus funds should be used now to stop the layoffs. UTLA supports this strategy to deliver the best education result in the near term and provide the fullest economic stimulus, thereby giving the district and public-school advocates the better part of a year to avoid the budget cliff.
On the other hand, LAUSD argues that the stimulus spending should be spread out over two years. L.A. Schools Supt. Ramon C. Cortines wants to spread federal aid over both the 2009-10 and the 2010-11 school years because he predicts the financial picture in the second year could be worse than in the first year. Cortines is determined that L.A. Unified not face bankruptcy on his watch.
Mayor Villaraigosa contends that LAUSD should use as many of the federal economic stimulus dollars as needed to avert teacher layoffs this year. In exchange, employee unions should consent to conditional compensation givebacks applicable in the following year. These wage concessions would take effect in the likely event that district economic problems continue.
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See our FAQ for further reading on how the stimulus money should be used.
We asked our readers to take part in our poll on how the stimulus money should be used. Here are the poll results:
Poll Results
Discuss how the stimulus money should be used.
June 18, 2009 at 9:17 PM
Children are no longer our future. The money should be used for solar energy there’s more promise there.
June 18, 2009 at 9:47 PM
seriously?????
June 22, 2009 at 10:22 PM
Yes, Children are going down the drain with their MTVs and Jonas Brothers. Solar Energy will provide for a larger cost savings and immediate relief to homeowners. When you get my age you know whats what!
June 17, 2009 at 6:51 PM
I agree the stimulus money should be given to these schools to help fund education and increase the need to improve the overall education system and not slowly devoid the value of education from school systems. Its sad, that Americans put such low value in the quality of education and ignore the importance of education for the growth of the future economy and the overall well being of the society. Obama’s plan to fund financial institutions even after the meltdown of the economy at the hands of the corporate gamblers was a stupid strategy (that decision was made so fast) and we all saw how well that went and its hard to deny that wall street and big corporations will definitely be getting some more chunks of the stimulus like it or not. But questions after questions and a prolonged debate on whether schools funding should be cut is pointless. There should be no question or doubt about funding for education.
June 30, 2009 at 8:28 PM
Pure drivel.
June 17, 2009 at 5:38 PM
President Obama came to California and said the money was to sve jobs…..Its as if your parents give your big brother money to buy you ice cream and he spend it on something else……We Have To Stand Up for our schools!!!!!
May 27, 2009 at 9:33 PM
Spending stimulus dollars to avoid layoffs this year is a must. If LAUSD ever hopes to increase educational performance in its schools, laying off new and inspired young teachers who represent the future of public education in Los Angeles is ABSOLUTELY WRONG.
UTLA’s responsibility is to protect teachers first, regardless of its affect on students. There must be cooperation from the union to investigate a means to protect teachers because they motivate students to learn and perform better everyday, not just because of their tenured status. When I read articles in the Los Angeles Times about the many millions of dollars wasted to pay tenured teachers with very questionable teaching histories, some of whom they can’t even trust to be with students in a classroom, there must be a serious recognition that our educational funds are being spent on the wrong people.
May 14, 2009 at 5:32 PM
If we don’t act prudently with the money, then what do we do about a pretty certain continued cut to the California budget next year? According to LAUSD, if we don’t spend the money over two years, we may face another 12,000 cuts next year.
I say that we spend it all this year and avoid all cuts only if the unions concede, together, to take hits next year if we are still in trouble.
May 13, 2009 at 6:32 PM
The Stimulus money should go to save teachers in 2009-10. Spreading it out over two years will not do the job effectively.
May 4, 2009 at 11:18 PM
It seems like nobody has a clue about what to do with the Stimulus money, but using it to curb layoffs would definitely have to be the priority.