FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 file photo, Gary Seri, general manager at the Stone River Grille, hangs a sign reading "HUG A TEACHER TODAY" written on a table cloth in honor of the teachers who died along with students a day earlier when a gunman opened fire at the Sandy Hook elementary school in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. Seri said the teachers were scheduled to have their holiday party at his restaurant. He put up red balloons that were not used when a sweet 16 party was canceled the night before, in lieu of the massacre. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
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FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 file photo, Gary Seri, general manager at the Stone River Grille, hangs a sign reading "HUG A TEACHER TODAY" written on a table cloth in honor of the teachers who died along with students a day earlier when a gunman opened fire at the Sandy Hook elementary school in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn. Seri said the teachers were scheduled to have their holiday party at his restaurant. He put up red balloons that were not used when a sweet 16 party was canceled the night before, in lieu of the massacre. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
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FILE - In this Tuesday, May 8, 2012 file photo, Victoria Slodov, left, 10, and Braelyn Singer, right, discuss a book called "The Dollhouse Murders" with their teacher Kim Malmad, at Moreland Hills Elementary School in Pepper Pike, Ohio. Funding cuts have often resulted in fewer teachers for the state’s students. AP analysis of state statistics shows the number of full-time teachers dropped nearly 6 percent from 2001 to 2011, the last year for which statewide figures are available. And a schools association survey last year and AP sampling this year indicate the trend is continuing, meaning more students per teacher and fewer course offerings. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)
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Tom Fico holds his son Lucas, 5, as they drop off his older brother Jake, not seen, at the Theodore Roosevelt School in Burbank, Calif., early Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. Teachers, parents and students are making an anxious return to school this week after a gunman stormed into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, shooting to death 26 people before killing himself. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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Tom Fico holds his son Lucas, 5, center, as he says good-bye to his older brother Jake, left, at the Theodore Roosevelt School in Burbank, Calif., early Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. Teachers, parents and students are making an anxious return to school this week after a gunman stormed into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, shooting to death 26 people before killing himself. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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Volunteer parents welcome school children arriving at the Theodore Roosevelt School in Burbank, Calif., early Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. Teachers, parents and students are making an anxious return to school this week after a gunman stormed into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, shooting to death 26 people before killing himself. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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Manuel Moreno, right, walks his daughter Jady, 6, to the Morris Street elementary school, Monday,Dec. 17, 2012 in Danbury, Conn. Teachers and parents across the country were wrestling with how best to quell children's fears about returning to school for the first time since the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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Rudy McCarley, left, walks his daughter Zarina to the Morris Street Elementary School, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 in Danbury, Conn. Teachers and parents across the country were wrestling with how best to quell children's fears about returning to school for the first time since the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
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A Connecticut State Police tactical team searches a train station near an elementary school, which was in a lockdown, in Ridgefield, Conn., Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, after a suspicious person was seen near the station. On Friday, authorities say a gunman killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
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Police officers walk up to an elementary school, which was in a lockdown, in Ridgefield, Conn., Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, after a suspicious person was seen near the train station close to the school. On Friday, authorities say a gunman killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, killing 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
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Flanked by Mexican Senate Deputy Chairman Francisco Arroyo Vieira, left, and Mexican Senate President Ernesto Cordero, right, Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, center, shows off the signed document enacting education reform, at the National Palace in Mexico City, Monday, Feb. 25, 2013. The law which was approved by Congress in December, calls for creation of a professional system for hiring, evaluating and promoting teachers without the "discretionary criteria" currently used in a system where teaching positions are often bought or inherited. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)
Pentagon to furlough teachers, cut commissary time
WASHINGTON (
AP) — The
Pentagon will furlough about 15,000 military school teachers and staff around the world because of the automatic budget cuts that took effect last Friday, but spokesman
George Little said Monday the department will manage the process so the schools don't lose their accreditation.
Little said the military will also close all of the commissaries on bases around the world for one extra day each week. They are currently open six days a week.
Because the length of the school day can't legally be shortened, teachers and staff will likely have to take one unpaid day a week off to meet the furlough requirements. The Pentagon said that each school may handle the staff shortfall differently, perhaps having classes double up or using administrators or other teachers to stand in for absent co-workers.
"We're going to do everything we can to manage the furlough process in a manner that enables military children to receive an accredited school year for this academic year," Little told reporters. He added that summer school also will continue to be offered.
The furloughs would affect about 8,000 teachers and 7,000 support staff in the 194 military schools around the world. The schools are located in seven states, a dozen countries, as well as Guam and Puerto Rico, and they serve about 86,000 students.
The cuts, which could run through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, will have an impact on the current school year and the one that will begin in August or September.
Shutting the nearly 250 commissaries worldwide for an additional day per week particularly affects troops stationed abroad who rely on the base stores for their daily living necessities. About 12 million people are authorized to shop in the stores, which see more than $6 billion in transactions annually.
Under the budget cuts, the Pentagon must find $46 billion in savings by the end of the fiscal year. Officials have already said that 800,000 Defense Department civilian workers will be furloughed for one day without pay each week for about 22 weeks.
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