Thousands of Teacher Layoffs Loom in Oklahoma

Massive teacher layoffs and smaller classroom sizes loom in Oklahoma as the common education budget for next year was slashed by 10 percent.

The State Department of Education explained to members of a House budget panel that the cuts translate to $244 million in reduced spending for education.

Lealon Taylor, Education Department Chief of Staff, said that a cut of this size represents approximately 5,000 teachers salaries, although he admitted that it’s unlikely that the layoff total will be that high.

Taylor continued by stating teacher salaries make up about 85 percent of a local district’s budget on average.