As someone who has been writing about education issues for years, I have noticed that disinformation, misinformation, and all-around twaddle are now more ubiquitous than ever. I will cover three areas here.
Massive teacher layoffs
Various online articles report that “massive teacher layoffs”—notably in California—are “devastating, chaotic, and detrimental” to student learning conditions.” While some layoffs include other employees, including librarians and nurses, most cuts are to teachers.
Most of the hysterics don’t acknowledge that many districts are overstaffed due in part to the expiring $190 billion federal Covid relief funds. Also, a major contributor to the need for fewer teachers in California is that while there were 6.3 million students in 2006-2007, now just 5.8 million are enrolled, and the state projects that number to fall to 5.3 million by 2031.
Looking at the bigger picture, researcher Chad Aldeman reports that in the 2023-24 school year, public schools nationwide added 121,000 employees, hitting a record high, even though enrollment dropped by 110,000. He discloses that about one-third of these districts added teachers while serving fewer students. For instance, Philadelphia lost nearly 16,000 students but employed 200 more teachers, dropping its student-to-teacher ratio from about 17:1 to under 15:1.
Aldeman writes that about a quarter of all districts followed the path of California’s Capistrano Unified School District, which lowered its teaching force over time but not as fast as it lost students. Capistrano suffered a “22% decline in student enrollment but reduced its teaching staff by just 7%.”
It’s worth noting that in most of the country, where teacher union contracts are in play, layoffs are made based on seniority, not teacher quality. Hence, students suffer not because of fewer teachers but rather fewer good ones.
The threat of a Department of Education shutdown
The shrieks from the education establishment, notably teacher union leaders, about President Trump’s efforts to shut down the U.S. Department of Education are deafening. American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten claims that DOE funding is vital for local schools while ludicrously insinuating that DOGE chief Elon Musk is out to “steal that money, which Congress appropriated for children, to pay for tax breaks for the rich.”
National Education Association president Becky Pringle claims that cuts to the DOE would “increase class sizes, cut job training programs, eliminate special education for those with disabilities, axe civil rights protections and increase college tuition prices, putting it out of reach for middle-class families. We won’t be silent as anti-public education politicians try to steal opportunities from our students, our families, and our communities to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”
Then there is the truth.
To continue reading, go to
https://amgreatness.com/2025/03/26/setting-the-record-straight-on-three-education-issues/
