Not here, though. This is happening in Montgomery County Maryland, the largest school district in that state. From the Washington Post:
"School officials said it was the first time since the early 1990s that Montgomery school employees had given up a contractual pay raise, a sign of the magnitude of the economic challenge. School board President Nancy Navarro (Northeastern County) credited unions with "tremendous sacrifice during these tough times." "Budget constraints have prompted Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to consider requiring unpaid furloughs for more than 67,000 state employees and contractors"
The socio-economic demographic is quite a bit different in Montgomery County Maryland than it is in Escambia County Florida. The average teacher salary in Montgomery County exceeds $70,000.00. The area is affluent and the cost of living is much more expensive than Escambia County. Even in a growing school system in an affluent community--sacrifices still are being made to make the budget ends meet.
Hopefully our budget scenario locally will not become as bleak as Montgomery County Maryland's. Hopefully our district's bargaining groups (district and union) will not dig in their heels and force drastic measures like the Santa Rosa County lay-offs.
We'll have to see what shakes out locally in the midst of these uncertain economic times.
Full Article on Montgomery County compromise is here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/03/AR2008120303391.html
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