School districts nationwide face a significant challenge as they lay off teachers due to the high costs driven by inflation, budget deficits and the expiration of federal COVID-era funding. After receiving substantial federal subsidies through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grants, districts will be facing new struggles soon, as that COVID relief funding dries up on September 30.
Inflation, COVID-era spending policies result in teacher layoffs nationwidehttps://t.co/VThemFZha3
— The Center Square (@thecentersquare) April 6, 2024
Declining enrollment, the cessation of ESSER funding, and budget shortfalls are cited as primary reasons for the layoffs. For instance, Arkansas’s Little Rock School District attributes its layoffs to declining enrollment and increased costs. Maryland’s Howard County Public School System announced a likely cut of 348 jobs to balance its fiscal 2025 budget. In San Diego, the Unified School District announced over 220 full-time positions cuts due to a $93.7 million budget shortfall.
The federal funds were handed to states to supplement school budgets during the pandemic. Now that those funds are going away, districts are also being hit with the same inflationary pressures affecting every consumer, business and organization. Supplies, insurance, electricity, food and everything else a school must have are all continuing to become more expensive daily.
Moreover, some districts face severe enrollment losses, further complicating their financial stability. “ESSER may have temporarily mitigated what would have otherwise been significant revenue loss in some districts. This means that districts with enrollment decline may face an even steeper cliff than anticipated,” explained Education Resource Strategies, a nonprofit consultant.
Districts will face handling layoffs and decreased staffing while working to preserve whatever level of education achievement they have attained. Whether the bureaucratic structure will see fit to cut the bloat out of the swollen numbers of non-teaching administrators to keep teachers in classrooms remains to be seen.
The pandemic provided an unexpected stress test for education finance. The layoffs are indicative of the inherent weakness in centralized planning that plagues school systems and public budgets generally. With no profit motive and no pricing structure, public schools always appear to be the “victim” of the normal ebbs and flows of demand. They are also particularly vulnerable to the politics involved in federal funding and economic cycles.
