20,000 Lay-Offs: Don't you Care?

If a local company announced it was laying off 20,000 employees, politicians would be up in arms. There would be press conferences, pickets and stories about out-sourcing and corporate greed.  Elected officials would bemoan the heartless CEO who slashed all of those jobs. That's why the recent silence from Springfield is so surprising.  

The Illinois Association of School Administrators now estimates as many as 20,000 teachers, administrators, support staff and other school workers will lose their jobs in the coming months.  Where is the outcry? Where are the demands for accountability? Could it be the politicians are fairly quiet because they are the ones to blame for these layoffs? This state's elected officials (past and present), their bloated budgets and political pandering are the reasons school workers are losing their jobs and class sizes will grow.  Too few have blown the whistle on reckless spending and a pension system that is literally bleeding the state's bank account dry.

In the coming months educators will trade their red pens for blue or black ink to fill out unemployment forms.  Where is the outrage? We keep reporting the stories. It's up to you to hold elected officials accountable.