MSM: LA school board votes to lay off 5,400 employees

The Los Angeles Board of Education has voted to lay off as many as 5,400 teachers and support personnel for the upcoming school year.

The vote came Tuesday as employees protested raucously outside the meeting. The board had voted hours earlier to save the jobs of 1,996 elementary school teachers using federal stimulus funds.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school system, faces a $596 million budget shortfall for the 2009-10 school year.

The final number of layoffs remains to be determined because the exact amount of state and federal funds coming to the district remains unclear.

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THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Board of Education has rescinded a proposed layoff of nearly 2,000 elementary school teachers, but the jobs of almost 6,000 teachers and support personnel are still slated to be axed.

The board voted Tuesday to use federal stimulus funds to save 1,996 elementary school jobs in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The nation’s second-largest school system faces a $596 million budget shortfall for the 2009-10 school year.

The teachers’ union, United Teachers Los Angeles, is calling on the school board to use all the federal stimulus money and cut other costs to eliminate all layoffs.

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