Bloomberg Says Teacher Layoffs Are Going To Happen Anyway

Just two days after engaging in a unilateral refusal to negotiate a new teachers contract and announcing a two year "freeze" on teachers salaries to avert 4,400 layoffs, Bloomberg says layoffs are going to happen anyway.

Not kidding - this time he blames a $600 million dollar Medicaid cut from Washington as the culprit for why he needs to lay off teachers.

Here's the Daily News on the story:

The 4,400 teachers that Mayor Bloomberg spared from layoffs this week might not want to get too comfy.

Just two days after he backed off threats to send out pink slips to educators, Bloomberg blamed a $600 million cut from Washington for putting teacher layoffs back on the table.

"Everything will be up in the air once again," Bloomberg said on WOR radio Friday when asked about the prospect of layoffs because of the move.

"We don't have to necessarily cut in one area, but overall, we have to come up with some ways to get $600 million in extra money or reduce our expenses," Bloomberg said. "That's not good."

The House of Representatives actually acted last week to remove federal Medicaid contributions from a jobs bill, so it's unclear why Bloomberg would reverse himself on the need for teacher layoffs.

When a reporter tried to ask about the reversal, Bloomberg walked away from a podium Friday, and his spokesman later said he had no answer.

This news of the layoffs back on the table comes one day after the Daily News reported that Bloomberg and Klein handed out 14% raises to central DOE employees just weeks before the announced salary freeze.

The Daily News article says the UFT had no comment on the layoffs being back on the table, but one union official noted that Mulgrew and Bloomberg are going to travel to D.C. together to beg for more money.

Heckuva job protecting teacher jobs, Mulgrew!

Heckuva job advocating for teacher salaries!

As Bloomberg and Klein are handing out raises to central DOE employees and managers and hiring 8 new deputy chancellors and giving the New Teacher Project millions of dollars to "hire new teachers," they're freezing teacher salaries to avert layoffs and then threatening layoffs anyway.