By Sara Sciammacco
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Washington, DC – Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander is pushing back on federal legislation that aims to prevent teacher layoffs in school districts nationwide. Supporters say as many as 6,000 jobs could be created or saved in Tennessee alone. Sara Sciammacco reports.
School districts across the country are expected to feel a squeeze as federal stimulus dollars run out this fall. Education leaders are trying to be creative as they balance budgets in bad economic times. Some are changing light bulbs in classrooms to improve energy efficiency others are reorganizing bus transportation routes to save money. A spokesperson for Shelby County Schools says the district plans to take %17 million out of reserves to prevent layoffs. Still other superintendents are considering handing out pink slips. To stop that from happening Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin introduced federal legislation. This bill would create a 23 billion dollar fund to pay for some of the salaries and benefits of existing teachers. Harkin says it is enough to keep them on the rolls through the next school year, and even pay for some new hires.
"When someone is drowning what is the first thing you do? You throw them a life jacket. When your house is on fire you put the fire. When someone is bleeding to death you stop the bleeding. That's what is happening here. This is an emergency stop." Harkins said.
According to one estimate by the Education Commission of the States the bill would pump 426 million dollars into Tennessee to prevent layoffs and create new jobs. The legislation, however, faces stiff opposition by some members of Congress who say the line on federal bailouts has to be drawn somewhere. Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander serves on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
"If the proposal is to spend 23 billion dollars by adding to the debt the question I have to ask is from which school children do we get the money? Because we can't keep spending billions of dollars in Washington that we don't have and if we do spend it that means we borrow it from the very same children who we are promising to help," Alexander said.
So far the Senate bill has no Republican support. Critics fears it will prevent education leaders from making tough choices when it comes to reforming existing school systems. Senator Alexander says Congress needs to focus on getting the economy moving again.
"When I was Governor we had a similar problem it is very difficult for schools it is difficult for the governor have a bad economy we had a it is very difficu lt and Memphis all of our communities are saving money doing are saving money and trusting we create enough new jobs in Tennessee and have sufficient funds to pay for schools," Alexander said.
The House already passed the 23 billion dollar measure. Education reform advocates have been on Capitol Hill pushing Senate lawmakers to act now. They argue it will be hard to implement improvements to No Child Left Behind if this legislation is not enacted. The Senate is expected to debate changes to the law this spring. Lily Eskelson is with the National Education Association.
ESKELSON: "Why are we going to be talking about all these different reform efforts if in the end you're saying our schools don't even have the staff they need to implement whatever Congress comes up with?" Eskelson asked. "This is basic and if you don't get this right nothing else is going to follow."
The Senate bill has only 26 co-sponsors. Supporters hope to get it moving before Memorial Day recess, but they are likely to face an uphill battle as passage of big spending measures continues to be a challenging feat in the Senate.