Slightly more than a dozen schools saw their budgets take a hit as a result of Chancellor Joel Klein’s hiring ultimatum.
In early September, Klein sent an email to principals warning that if they didn’t fill their vacancies by October 30, the money would be taken out of their budgets and returned to Department of Education coffers.
The threat was meant to pressure principals to hire teachers who are still paid by the city but have lost their permanent jobs because of school closings or budget cuts. Some principals had expressed reluctance to hire these teachers and were hoping to wait out the city’s hiring freeze.
In all, only 14 schools had to return the hiring funds to the DOE, said a spokeswoman for the department, Ann Forte.
The modest number does not mean that all other principals hired from the absent teacher reserve. Those principals who found themselves with openings they couldn’t fill with ATR teachers could apply for exemptions, which were granted if they could make a compelling case as to why a teacher who was already in the system couldn’t do the job. As of September 17, the DOE had granted 125 exemptions to the hiring freeze.
Forte said the DOE will not release the names of the schools affected or how many teachers remain in the ATR pool for a couple of weeks. As of mid-October, there were 586 vacancies and 1,340 teachers in the ATR pool.