Sequestration could cost thousands of teachers their jobs, according to a grim report the White House released Sunday. That's just one possible impact of the $85 billion in automatic spending cuts set to kick in Friday unless Congress reaches an increasingly unlikely deficit reduction deal that includes added tax revenue.

Last week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan warned that the looming cuts to schools are "very, very worrying" and that there is nothing he can do to prevent teachers from losing their jobs should sequestration take effect.

Some teachers are already receiving pink slips as schools start to figure sequester cuts into their fall budgets." - Education Secretary Arne Duncan

What is the possible impact on South Dakota teachers? Not as great as some of the other states.

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Special education programs, low-income student aid programs and Head Start pre-school could also lose some of their federal aid. Department of Defense schools and schools on Native American reservations could be hit hard because they depend on more federal funding than other states.

The federal grants that would be cut by the sequester total more than 10 percent of South Dakota's state revenue.



 

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