The Broward School District trimmed its budget Monday by sending 396 teachers pink slips in the mail informing them they had become cap casualties.
The devastating cuts may serve as a warning for Miami-Dade educators, who are also expected to take the brunt of the budget ax as school boards across the state struggle with shrinking funds to teach students.
"I feel like I'm being forced to make this decision," Broward School Board chairwoman Maureen Dinnen told the Sun-Sentinel. "If I don't have the money to employ people, I don't go out and print money in the back room."
Pretty soon, Dinnen won't have enough teachers to fill classrooms, either. Most of the teachers who got canned were first-year employees and the school board spared no grade level and only math, science and reading teachers avoided lay-offs.
Some teachers could get their jobs back by the Aug. 24 start of the next school year if vacancies open up.
