California – As California’s school year winds down, nearly 3,000 teachers and counselors across the state are grappling with pink slips—a stark signal of financial strain in the nation’s most populous state and a looming crisis for public education. The layoffs, affecting districts from Santa Ana to San Diego, have sparked intense criticism from union leaders, who accuse school systems of financial mismanagement and misplaced priorities.
“We have districts sometimes who lead with layoffs and have millions of dollars in reserves and say that’s for a rainy day,” said David Goldberg, president of the California Teachers Association (CTA), in an interview with ABC7. “It is raining now. It is pouring now.”
The wave of layoffs follows the expiration of pandemic-era funding and a continued decline in student enrollment. Many districts had used temporary COVID-19 relief funds to expand staffing, particularly in areas such as student counseling and academic support. With that funding now depleted, districts say they cannot sustain the same staffing levels…