Obama: 'Congress Must Act to Keep our Teachers on the Job'

Continuing to call on Congress to pass the jobs bill he proposed last September, this week President Obama focuses on what his bill would mean for teachers.

... it should concern everyone that right now ' all across America ' tens of thousands of teachers are getting laid off. In Pennsylvania alone, there are 9,000 fewer educators in our schools today than just a year ago. In Ohio, the number is close to 7,000. And nationwide, over the past three years, school districts have lost over 250,000 educators. Think about what that means for our country. When there are fewer teachers in our schools, class sizes start climbing up. Our students start falling behind. And our economy takes a hit. [...]

That's why a critical part of the jobs bill that I sent to Congress back in September was to help states prevent even more layoffs and rehire even more teachers who had lost their jobs.

... and asks Republicans to do the impossible: the right thing.

I know this is an election year. But some things are bigger than an election. Some things are bigger than politics. So I hope you'll join me in telling Congress to do the right thing; to get to work and to help get our teachers back in the classroom. We can't afford to wait any longer.

Complete transcript below the fold.