Notified at the end of July that the school system would have to make up a $40 million shortfall, Chancellor of Schools, Michele Rhee, waited until a month into the school year before handing out pink skips to more than 200 teachers.

Rhee’s explanation was that there’s always an equalization process after school starts when teachers are reassigned according to actual enrollments. An under enrolled school may lose a teacher to one that had more kids than expected.

My guess is that when there is no budget shortfall, under enrolled schools end up with more teachers than they need and this gives the principal some flexibility in scheduling and managing the place. Equalization day may cause some disruption but not the loss of 200 teachers

When there is a known budget shortfall a month before school begins then it’s incumbent upon the school administration to make some cuts before the school year begins. Under these conditions opportunities for equalization would be at a minimum.

It does appear that Rhee had an ulterior motive and that is to remove teachers whom she couldn’t dismiss through other means.

Veteran teachers had expressed fears that they would be targeted by Rhee and school principals, who were not bound by seniority considerations in drawing up layoff lists. Rhee did not offer details but said the terminated employees as a group were "consistent with the overall demographic makeup of the staff."
Washington Teachers' Union president George Parker disputed Rhee's numbers and analysis. He said he had been informed by Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson that 266 teachers were terminated. He said early indications, based on calls he had received from teachers, were that the terminated group was predominantly "senior teachers over 50."

Clearly the teachers have a different take than Rhee but such poor planning is unexplainable unless it’s good planning for another purpose.

Qutes from Washington Post