Union Survey of Teachers Shows Layoffs Widespread

Teacher layoff notices increased in more than half the states this spring, and teacher union leaders in 15 states expect more job actions in the back-to-school period.

But an informal survey of state officials by the National Education Assn. found that threatened cuts in health care benefits emerged as an overwhelming, surprise choice as one of the toughest bargaining issues facing teachers.

Highlights of the 2.1-million-member union’s in-house survey, conducted during the last two weeks of June, were released Friday by NEA Executive Director Don Cameron.

Among other actions Friday at the union’s annual meeting, NEA delegates:

--Expressed their “grave concern” over conservative positions taken by U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas on such issues as affirmative action and the minimum wage.

--Favored a qualified moratorium on standardized testing for all grade levels.

--Called for an “all-sided analysis” of the merits of celebrating Columbus Day that would include the perspective of American Indians.

The NEA’s informal leadership survey offered some of the clearest evidence yet of the deep foreboding many educators feel about classroom life this fall.

It also signaled that an added consequence of budget woes besetting 30 states might be an upswing in teacher job actions.

A second NEA report, “Federal Education Funding: The Cost of Excellence,” heaped fresh criticism on the federal government for failing to fully fund key education programs.

Meanwhile, the NEA’s survey found:

--Attempted cuts in health care benefits were singled out in 35 states as the most difficult bargaining issue.

--Teachers in at least 15 states said they expected an increase this fall in job actions ranging from informational picketing to full-blown strikes. In addition to California, those states were Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Wisconsin.

--The number of pink slips rose in at least 26 states over a year ago. Among the hardest hit: California, where NEA officials fear 20,000 could be laid off; Florida, where 41,000 teachers could lose their jobs next fall, and New York, where the number of teacher layoffs may hit 9,000.

--Thirty-one state union leaders said their states were offering little or no new money to further the six national education goals that President Bush and the 50 state governors agreed on at an “education summit” nearly two years ago.