One thousand new hires seems to be the new mantra of the Markell Administration in response the laying off of over 200 teachers in Delaware. Who can argue about the hiring of 1,000 new teachers? As a matter of fact, Delaware Dem even promotes the 1,000 new hires as an offset to the layoffs. But is it really an offset?
Getting teachers on the ground – they are shovel ready, you know – is of utmost importance. But let’s take a look at what is meant by 1,000 new hires. From The News Journal article, “Future uncertain for Delaware’s Teachers”:
It’s hard to say how many educators will be lost next school year in Delaware. Some of the people who are laid off could be rehired as districts sort through enrollment and funding numbers over the summer. Superintendents told the state they expect to cut 225 education-related jobs but plan to have 1,000 new hires who will replace workers who retire, resign or, in some cases, fill newly created positions.
Delaware Dem does mention that that 1,000 new hires will “replace workers who retire or resign and to fill new positions”. The crux of the issue is how will you count new hires. Is it new positions or is it replacement workers?
From my own work experience there is a difference between hiring someone to replace a worker who has left and hiring a worker for a newly created position. A big difference. Throw in there that over 200 positions are being effectively closed, the gap widens. We can argue semantics on this issue, however, I believe it is disingenuous to repeatedly say there will be 1,000 new hires. It might be true, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
And as I mentioned in the comments of Delaware Dem’s post, I’m not very comfortable with the idea that “many” teachers are rehired. As the Markell Administration was quick to point out, the Indian River School District rehires many of their RIF’ed teachers — historically, yes, this is true of Indian River, but this is not a portable statistic that can be moved from district to district.
So, what I am left with is wanting to know how many “newly created positions” will there be for classroom teachers?