WHEREAS, more than 200 Rochester City School District employees, including more than 150 teachers, received notices on Dec. 6 that they would be laid off effective Dec. 31 as the school district, which serves 29,000 students, tries to address $30 million in overspending last year and a projected $64 million budget shortfall in the current year; and

WHEREAS, class sizes will increase and thousands of students will lose their current teachers halfway through the school year if the layoffs happen; and

WHEREAS, the Rochester School District, like other high-need school districts in New York State, is owed tens of millions of dollars in additional state school aid as part of the 2007 Campaign for Fiscal Equity court case ruling; and

WHEREAS, the Rochester school board is expected to vote on these layoffs on Dec. 19; and

WHEREAS, hundreds of students across the Rochester City School District began demonstrations on Dec. 9 protesting the layoffs; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the UFT stands in solidarity with the Rochester teachers and their union, the Rochester Teachers Association, in their fight to fend off midyear layoffs that would disrupt the education of Rochester public school students.