There will likely be big teacher layoffs in June, barring a lot of new federal money.  This could be very harmful to kids – or not so harmful, depending on HOW the layoffs are done.  If layoffs, rather than based on seniority, are used to get rid of the very worst teachers – what Michelle Rhee did in DC a few months ago – it could actually be a GOOD thing!  A study cited in Waiting for Superman showed that if we replaced the worst 6% of teachers with merely average teachers, the U.S. would rocket to the top of the international rankings (today, we're mired in roughly 25^th place).  Sadly, laws and political pressures mean nearly all layoffs will likely be purely be seniority (to see what happened when Rhee did otherwise, see http://edreform.blogspot.com/2009/12/ed-reform-ground-zero-in-dc-story-from.html and http://edreform.blogspot.com/2009/12/ms-rhee-on-trial.html):

School districts around the country, forced to resort to drastic money-saving measures, are warning hundreds of thousands of teachers that their jobs may be eliminated in June.

The districts have no choice, they say, because their usual sources of revenue — state money and local property taxes — have been hit hard by the recession. In addition, federal stimulus money earmarked for education has been mostly used up this year.

As a result, the 2010-11 school term is shaping up as one of the most austere in the last half century. In addition to teacher layoffs, districts are planning to close schools, cut programs, enlarge classes and shorten the school day, week or year to save money.

"We are doing things and considering options I never thought I'd have to consider," said Peter C. Gorman, superintendent of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in North Carolina, who expects to cut 600 of the district's 9,400 teachers this year, after laying off 120 last year. "This may be our new economic reality."

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Districts Warn of Deeper Teacher Cuts

By TAMAR LEWIN and SAM DILLON

Published: April 20, 2010

School districts around the country, forced to resort to drastic money-saving measures, are warning hundreds of thousands of teachers that their jobs may be eliminated in June.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/education/21teachers.html