July 12, 2011
This week the Texas Education Agency (TEA) began a second round of layoffs, cutting an additional 178 employees from the agency’s payroll.
Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Robert Scott notified agency staff of possible layoffs at the beginning of the year when he asked the human resources division to conduct an examination of every position in the agency in order to make a very detailed study of agency responsibilities and workload. These discussions were started in anticipation of continued agency reductions in state funding.
The current layoffs at TEA are an initial representation of reductions in state support as a result of the recently passed appropriations bill. Further impact will be felt in the 2011-12 school budgets in many school districts.
The cuts this week will be added to an earlier round of layoffs in February. When combined, a total of 343 positions will be cut from the state education agency – approximately one third of the agency work force as of six months ago. The loss of experienced staff raises questions about the agency’s capacity to implement requirements of recently passed legislation as well as manage existing requirements.