The New Math: Teachers Share Recession's Pain

Winnie Hu:

Bankers, lawyers and journalists have taken pay cuts and gone without raises to stay employed in a tough economy. Now similar givebacks are spreading to education, an industry once deemed to be recession-proof.

All 95 teachers and five administrators in the Tuckahoe school district in Westchester County agreed to give $1,000 each to next year's school budget to keep the area's tax increase below 3 percent. In the Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow district, 80 percent of the 500 school employees -- including teachers, clerks, custodians and bus drivers -- have pledged more than $150,000 from their own pockets to help close a $300,000 budget gap.

And on Long Island, the 733 teachers in the William Floyd district in Mastic Beach decided to collectively give up $1 million in salary increases next year to help restore 19 teaching positions that were to be eliminated.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 23, 2009 3:11 AM
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