Friday News Roundup: Week of October 10-14

7,000 teachers laid off in New York State cuts

Florida state tax collections down $1.5 billion

Deal launches Georgia college financing study

Utah schools chief laments wilting funding

7,000 teachers laid off in New York State cuts
A survey released this week by the New York State Council of School Superintendents showed the state to be in dire financial straits.  In the 2011 school year, nearly 3 percent of teachers and more than 4 percent of school administrators were laid off in New York. According to the state teachers union, more than 7,000 teachers lost their jobs, and another 4,000 vacant teaching positions were eliminated. Eighty percent of districts surveyed reported cutting instructional positions. Both the union and the superintendents say that a cut in state aid in 2011 after two uninterrupted years of flat spending, as well as a new law that will take effect in the spring capping growth of local property taxes, necessitated the severe cuts. More here…

Florida state tax collections down $1.5 billion
Florida state legislators turned down billions in federal monies and cut regulations and spending in the 2011 session to balance the state’s budget, including a $4 billion cut to education, health care, employee benefits, and environmental programs. Now the state is facing state revenues for state fiscal year 2012 that are $600 million below projections made earlier this year, and $968 million lower than anticipated for fiscal year 2013. At the same time, health care and education costs are expected to increase by as much as $1 billion by 2013. While the state economy grew, officials said, it wasn’t enough. Sales tax collections, which felt the biggest hit over 2012-2013, are $1 billion below previous projections. The senate president said that lawmakers would adjust for the deficit by cutting programs; and Governor Rick Scott confirmed that he plans to continue his agenda of cutting taxes and regulations while toughening restrictions on those receiving unemployment benefits. More here…

Deal launches Georgia college financing study
This week Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced the appointments of higher education officials, state lawmakers, and business leaders to a board that will study the financing of higher education in the state. The commission’s purpose is to look at the current funding formulas for the University System of Georgia and the Technical College System of Georgia and propose changes that could improve higher education outcomes. Current funding formulas are based on student enrollment, but not student completion; the governor expressed his interest in “incentiviz[ing] college completion.”  The commission was created as a part of the Complete College Georgia Initiative introduced by the governor this summer. More here…

Utah schools chief laments wilting funding
Utah State Superintendent Larry Shumway this week decried the state’s declining funding for education in his annual State of Education Speech.  He expressed his belief that the state must do more to invest in students and support the state’s future.  According to a recent report, Utah ranked eighth in the country in terms of residents’ income that was directed to public education through taxes in 1992; but by 2009, the state ranked 26^th.  In particular, Shumway cited a recent drop in funding for teacher training as an example of the state’s diminished willingness to adequately fund education. He did not specify when asked after the speech whether he would support a tax increase to support higher levels of spending on education. More here…