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                     FEBRUARY 2008                      

Under Seige

Those of us who have dedicated ourselves to the public schools of this Great State have seen it all before.  It usually begins with a public pronouncement by a newly elected office holder proclaiming themselves the “Education Candidate”.  Tragically, it ends with that same person making policy decisions that undercut the fabric of the very institution they purport to represent.  Sadly, we as teachers of the next generation of California ’s citizens are left to pick up the pieces when those decisions take money from our students and out of our classrooms.

So what are the actual ramifications of the proposed 10% cut to public schools in 2008-2009?  By cutting 4.8 billion dollars from the budget, it would be the equivalent of laying off 107,000 teachers, or the same as closing down our facilities nearly one month before the end of the school year.  Or else, we could increase the number of students by 35% for every classroom in the state.   Even now, California continues to have some of the nation’s largest class sizes and ranks 50th in numbers of counselors, school nurses, and librarians per student.  Despite these numbers, our schools across the state have shown marked improvement in both math and reading in the last four years.  Yet we face continued attacks to our funding, and the amount spent per child in California is $1,900.00 less than the national average.  A typical school in the US has 30% more teachers than their counterpart in California as well.

As educators, we need to be on the forefront in assuring our state legislators will not mortgage our future on the backs of our children.  Write your representatives and tell them you expect support and funding for the public school districts across the state