Congress approves bill to save thousands of teaching jobs

Washington, D.C., Aug. 11 – An estimated 2,800 teaching jobs in Minnesota will be spared under an emergency jobs bill passed by Congress and immediately signed by President Barack Obama this week. The $26 billion bill provides funding that is expected to save 160,000 teaching jobs around the country, as well as other public jobs, such as police officers and firefighters.

Education Minnesota Vice President Paul Mueller praised the legislation.

“With Minnesota class sizes already among the largest in America, this bill greatly benefits students by keeping more teachers in the classroom and preventing class sizes from expanding any further,” Mueller said.  “Minnesota’s biggest education challenge is solving the achievement gap; research clearly shows that reducing class sizes is a key component in successfully improving outcomes for students who struggle the most.”

The vote generally fell along party lines. All five Democrats in Minnesota’s U.S. House delegation voted yes, while all three Republicans voted no. U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken also voted for the bill.

The legislation devotes $10 billion to rehire laid-off teachers or to make sure more teachers aren’t let go. Minnesota will receive an estimated $167 million to save teacher jobs. The Association of Metro School Districts had estimated between 1,200 and 1,500 teachers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area would be laid off before the start of the new school year.

While applauding the decision, Education Minnesota’s Mueller also pointed to a bigger issue. “This is just a temporary solution,” he said. “The fact that such a bill is even necessary points once again to the critical need for Minnesota to fix our state’s broken system of education funding. Constant education cuts and accounting shifts by the state force far too many districts to rely on property tax levies to fund their schools. Minnesota needs an education funding system that is equitable, sustainable, predictable, and sufficient in order to provide our children the best education possible.”

Education Secretary Arne Duncan promised to get the money to states as soon as possible. He estimated that without the money, 75 percent of school districts around the country would start the new school year with fewer teachers than last year. It will be up to each states’ education department to distribute the money.