FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOS ANGELES — More than 800 teachers in Los Angeles today joined thousands of nurses, firefighters, other workers and community volunteers with the Alliance for a Better California in a statewide blitz of neighborhoods to mobilize voters to go to the polls Nov. 8 and oppose the governor's special-interest agenda and his harmful ballot initiatives.
Before walking Los Angeles voter precincts, California Teachers Association President Barbara E. Kerr and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell spoke out against the governor's Proposition 74, 75 and 76 at a news conference with classroom teachers in front of Venice High School in West Los Angeles.
"We come from many backgrounds, but we speak with one voice," Kerr said. "If you care about our public schools – and having police and fire protection in our neighborhoods – please make your voice heard and vote 'No' on the governor's bad ideas for our state."
O'Connell said, "This governor, simply put, is trying to balance the budget on the backs of the working people, of professional educators, nurses, firefighters, and the law enforcement community. He's trying to borrow money against the futures of the students in California's public schools."
"Proposition 75 is not about protecting workers," warned Linda Bynoe, a professor at California State University-Monterey Bay. "It's about shutting us up so we can't tell the public about why bad ideas like the governor's propositions on the ballot are dangerous for our communities."
Mike Rosenfeld, a teacher in the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, blasted the governor for backing Prop. 76, which would slash school funding "by over $4 billion every year -- $600 per student, leading to more overcrowded classrooms, teacher layoffs, and fewer textbooks and classroom materials."
He said Proposition 74 "blames teachers for the problems in our schools. It does nothing to get our schools the things they really need, like smaller class sizes and up-to-date textbooks."