Another Californian Unemployed

California recently announced that over 26,000 had lost their jobs in the month of October. Its unemployment rate has risen to 8.2 percent, one of the highest levels in the country (only Michigan and Rhode Island are worse off). Yesterday one more fell victim to this trend. David Brewer the Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, the countries second largest school district, was asked to step down after only two years on the job (LA Time Article). Of course he is better off than the other 26,000 newly unemployed in that he will be leaving with a $517,500 exit package. In fact, to pay for his severance package, it is likely that the district will have find several other educators will join him in the ranks of the unemployed as the district continues to face large budget deficits. Of course maybe he could fill one of the vacancies on the Schwarzenegger’s administration which has had difficulty keeping education advisors. The Governor has had four Secretaries of Education in 5 years. Currently, the Governor’s education advisory team, the Secretary of Education’s Office, is almost empty with the following openings – Secretary of Education, undersecretary, chief of staff, and K-12 assistant secretary.