In one fell swoop, seventy-four Rhode Island teaching jobs were eliminated after officials in the Central Falls school district decided to terminate all teachers at a high school.

The teachers are losing their jobs after talks between the school district and the teachers union collapsed. The jobs will be cut by the end of the year for Central Falls High School. However, no more than half those instructors would be hired back under a federal option that has enraged the state’s powerful teachers union.

Nineteen staff members were also fired, bringing the total to 93.

Teachers were demanding more pay for additional work, after the school district school district implemented changes that included more after hours tutoring for students. Teachers who weren’t happy with the changes were asking for more money.

The school board voted 5-2 in favor of the firings. The Central Falls school has been one of the lowest achieving schools in the state, the Providence Journal said.

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Rhode Island teaching jobs are expected to grow faster than the statewide average for all jobs.

In July 2008, Rhode Island’s education and health services industry employed 99,900 people, an increase of .4 percent from last year, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

An increase of 55,000 Rhode Island jobs is expected through 2014, reaching 573,437 jobs, up 10.7 percent from 518,145 in 2004. More than 10 percent of the new jobs created will be in the education industry, according to an article by the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. The industry is projected to employ 51,000 workers by 2014, an increase of 5,200 jobs, or 11.3 percent.

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