Florida’s public schools, and the nation’s, face an “educational catastrophe” if federal aid isn’t pumped into their budgets to offset steep financial losses expected in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, school leaders wrote in a letter to Congress.
Public schools need $200 billion in financial aid or could have to layoff 275,000 teachers nationwide, leading to an “educational catastrophe” that “could weaken the country’s economic foundation for years to come,” said the letter released Tuesday from the Council of the Great City Schools.
The letter was signed by Orange County Superintendent Barbara Jenkins, who serves as the group’s secretary/treasurer; the superintendents from Broward, Duval, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Pinellas counties; and 56 leaders from the country’s other large school systems, including those in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City.