Education jobs not safe from recession

Bianca L. Mason, who has a bachelor's degree in business administration, left the business industry five years ago to become a teacher, a career she thought would be recession-proof.

But by the end of June, Mason, who lives in Dinwiddie County with her soon-to-be 3-year-old daughter, will no longer have a job as a marketing teacher at Matoaca High School in Chesterfield County. She came to Matoaca from Prince George County schools last fall.

"I thought I was pretty safe," she said. "That's one of the things you grow up believing, that jobs in government, teaching and health care are safe jobs. This is a perfect example of the impact when budgets get cut."

Are education jobs recession-proof?

"Clearly they're not when states' budgets have significant budget shortfalls . . . and when localities have the same program cuts," said Daniel A. Domenech, executive director for the Arlington County-based American Association of School Administrators. "That has a direct impact in schools."

Mason, who is looking for a job in business or teaching, is one of 53 employees who will be out of a job when their contracts expire at the end of the school year because of a $32 million budget shortfall for the 2009-10 school year. Among those losing their jobs are 33 instructional aides at the elementary level and 12 teachers at the middle and high school level. Also, this month 50 employees' jobs will be reclassified and downgraded.

"I just think the sad part about it is that you're losing a lot of the young teachers who have fresh ideas and a different way to do things," the 27-year-old Mason said.

In the Tri-Cities area, Dinwiddie County has proposed to lay off 17 custodians if the system decides to contract custodial services to an outside agency, and Petersburg is considering eliminating some teaching positions. Hopewell and Colonial Heights have said they will not cut employees.

Hanover will eliminate at least 50 job positions. Richmond's school system is proposing to cut administrative staff -- though not active teachers -- and allowing vacant positions to remain unfilled. Henrico is not planning any layoffs.

Across the country, many school leaders are eliminating teaching jobs, according to a survey released in March by the American Association of School Administrators.

"The impact of all those teachers being cut is going to result in larger classes," Domenech said. "That's going to impact instruction, especially disadvantaged students."

Of those school leaders surveyed, 44 percent said their districts plan to eliminate jobs in the 2009-10 school year. In an earlier survey, before the stimulus package was approved, 72 percent of the leaders surveyed said they were planning to eliminate positions for next school year.

Chesterfield officials have said, after the stimulus money was approved, that core class sizes would not be affected.

"There will be job losses in education, but certainly not to the catastrophic level that there would have been without the stimulus package," Domenech said.

There are some teaching jobs that are recession-proof, Domenech said.

"If you're a Title I program or special education teacher, then your job is almost guaranteed," he said, adding that those areas are receiving an infusion of stimulus money.

Lauren I. Serpa, a first-year music teacher at Chalkley, Hening and Hopkins elementary schools in Chesterfield, said she was optimistic about keeping her job when the news hit last fall that about 300 people would be losing their jobs. The stimulus money saved most of those jobs.

Serpa, however, received the official papers that she was being laid off about three weeks ago.

"I was disappointed," she said. "I hope this is a good opportunity for something else that might happen for me."

Serpa, who plays the flute, said she is considering giving private lessons. She would like to find a teaching job, but she hasn't had any luck so far.

"You always hear about a teacher shortage, and I figured there would always be a need for us somewhere," she said. "But it's a hard time for everybody."