America’s schools are heading for a crunch
Enrolment is declining; budgets will follow
AT A MEETING earlier this year, board members in Seattle’s biggest public-school district were treated to a grisly chart. Over five years the number of full-time staff on the district’s payroll has drifted upwards, even as the number of pupils on its books has fallen. In September teachers won a pay rise following a strike that delayed the new school year. But enrolment could keep shrinking for a decade, reckon district leaders, who warn of budgetary black holes. Threatened bankruptcy may eventually require “consolidating”, which may mean shutting down schools.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “How not to close schools”
United States March 11th 2023
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- Legal action may change transgender care in America
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- America’s schools are heading for a crunch
- Three Republican states pull out of voter-fraud prevention scheme
- Quite a few young Americans plan to end their days as compost
- America’s government has not been “weaponised”
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