CALIFORNIA K-12: Still recruiting amid prospective layoffs

Spurred on by what was thought to be decade-long teacher shortage, California school districts are spending $9MM in 2002 to recruit new teachers through six regional teacher recruitment centers and a series of job fairs and beating the bushes for people interested in training for positions in the classroom.
Meanwhile, faced with a statewide budget gap of $30MM in education, most school districts are preparing for layoffs.
-- Oakland Unified has warned more than 1,000 teachers that their jobs are at risk.
--San Diego has sent notices to nearly 1,500 teachers. Another thousand have been notified in Fresno.
--San Juan Unified in Sacramento County, has notified 600 teachers, or 20 percent of the staff, they could be laid off.
The California Teachers Association estimates that as many as 10,000 teachers have received provisional pink slips this month alone.
(Source: Sacramento Bee, March 18, 2003, State spends millions luring teachers amid layoffs via EdBriefs.)