The next time a Congressman looks you in the eye and claims the tens of billions of your tax dollars need to go to school districts so they can rehire laid off teachers, you might want to grab your wallet and lock up the silver because the money isn't being used for any such thing: As schools handed out pink slips to teachers this spring, states made a beeline to Washington to plead for money for their ravaged education budgets. But now that the federal government has come through with $10 billion, some of the nation's biggest school districts are balking at using their share of the money to hire teachers right away.With the economic outlook weakening, they argue that big deficits are looming for the next academic year and that they need to preserve the funds to prevent future layoffs. Los Angeles, for example, is projecting a $280 million budget shortfall next year that could threaten more jobs."You've got this herculean task to deal with next year's deficit," said Lydia L....(Read Full Post)