By Khalida Sarwari
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell and local education officials will hold a news conference today at San Jose’s Allen at Steinbeck K-8 School to discuss the issuance of teacher and school staff layoff notices due to the state budget crisis.
Educators and supporters will observe “Pink Friday” by wearing pink to show their support for teachers and school staff affected by the budget crisis.
Today is the last business day before the statutory March 15 deadline that pink slips or layoff notices can be issued before the upcoming school year.
School districts statewide have been forced to issue more than 26,000 layoff notices to teachers as a result of the $11.6 billion in cuts to education over the next year and a half as a result of the recently enacted state budget.
The news conference will be held at 11:30 a.m. at the school, located at 820 Steinbeck Drive.