Well, since I’m no financial expert and don’t even have access to the family checkbook, I’d have to allow that there might be some correlation between the country’s economy and the $84 million shortfall at DISD that led to the euphemistic “reduction in force.” But unless my reading comprehension skills have completely gone out the window, I would suggest that this U.S. News & World Report headline is overselling any possible link. I mean, really — “The Weak Economy Hits Dallas Teachers“? Check the lede:
Higher costs have forced school districts nationwide to raise meal prices and cut field trips. Now teachers are falling victim to the weak economy. Some 375 public school teachers lost their jobs in Dallas last week. District leaders argued that they had no choice but to lay off teachers, along with hundreds of other school employees–more than 1,000 in all–to help stave off a projected $84 million budget shortfall.
The numbers are right, but the way it’s put together kind of seems, I don’t know, convenient.