Payout to save teaching jobs gets mild support from White House

A $23 billion payout to save thousands of educators' jobs faltered Thursday -- perhaps for good -- to election-year jitters among moderate Democrats over deficit spending and only lukewarm support from the White House.

The proposal's chief advocate in the House abruptly canceled a committee meeting to put the money in a war spending bill. Its lead sponsor in the Senate gave up trying to do it, acknowledging that he lacked the necessary votes.

The developments jeopardized what liberals in Congress and some members of the Obama administration had described as a life raft for 100,000 to 300,000 teachers and other school personnel whose billions of dollars in salary subsidies, paid through federal stimulus funding, will run out this fall.

Outside the Beltway, educators said it was unclear how big a hit they will take if more federal money does not come through.

"The specter of layoffs is there," said Bill Reinhard, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Education. "The economy has not totally turned around yet."

Maureen Dinnen, a retired teacher and school board member in Broward County, Fla., said 800 teaching jobs are in jeopardy there. The limbo, she said, wakes her up at night.

"I think to myself, 'The future of our schools, that's just as important as the auto industry or the financial interests,' " she said. "That's our lifeblood for the future."

But voters have been telling politicians for months to hold down government spending -- even the kind intended to spur the nation's economic recovery.

Some Democrats complained privately that the effort cried out for presidential advocacy. President Obama did not request the money in his budget; Education Secretary Arne Duncan seemed to be the only member of the administration making a strong case for it.

On Thursday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs released a statement that called for some emergency funding for teachers, but he stopped short of saying how much.

"There are thousands of teachers who will receive pink slips in the coming months," Gibbs said. "The president strongly supports targeted aid focused on preventing these teacher layoffs in order to stem the education crisis."

Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, on Thursday canceled a meeting of his panel, which was to have considered reviving the measure.