Teachers bracing for layoffs

Late this week, notices will go out to thousands of teachers across California informing them that they may be out of a job in a few months - the first and clearest indication to many families of the kind of pain that California's massive budget deficit could inflict. Mike Zappler and Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

The layoff letters, which by law must go out by Saturday, could number in the tens of thousands, school officials warn.

Although it's possible, if not likely, that many of the warnings won't result in actual pink slips, the notices could be a flash point in the debate about how to close an $8 billion budget deficit - and what the fallout might be for California residents.