BURLINGAME – With proposed state budget cuts meaning a devastating $1.3 billion hit for higher education, California Teachers Association President David A. Sanchez today warned of the consequences for the future of our students at a stop of the statewide CTA “Cuts Hurt” bus tour at Butte College. Sanchez also spoke out earlier today at another CTA bus tour stop with pink-slipped Shasta County teachers.
The proposed state budget “will be devastating for higher education,” Sanchez told faculty and students from Chico State University and Butte College at the community college campus in Oroville. “We cannot allow students to be denied a college education. This is their education, and this is our future.”
If the governor’s proposed state budget is passed, community colleges could lose more than $500 million and more than 1,000 part-time instructors could be let go. Another $803 million would be cut from our CSU and UC systems.
Studies show that, due to the compounding effect over time of the proposed higher education cuts, funding would be lost for 23,000 community college students – and that 27,000 students would be turned away from University of California and California State University campuses. “If we want to continue to improve student achievement and invest in California’s future, we must put more money into our schools and colleges, not less,” said Sanchez.
Earlier, Sanchez rode the CTA bus to Meadow Lane Elementary in Anderson, near Redding, to join pink-slipped teachers in speaking out against cuts that could total $10 million next school year for the 25 school districts in Shasta County that serve nearly 30,000 students. Meadow Lane fourth-grade teacher Jason Pasero is one of five teachers at his school to get layoff notices – and among the 14,000 educators who recently got pink slips statewide due to the state budget turmoil. “This is very upsetting to me and to our students,” Pasero said. “I love teaching, but this is very frustrating. These cuts are hurting our students, our schools and our communities.”
Cuts and layoffs in the Shasta County Office of Education may mean shutting down five of the county’s preschools and after-school sites, which assist many lower-income families.
Since its launch on April 7, the six-week CTA Cuts Hurt bus tour has drawn attention to damaging school cuts in Inglewood, Rialto, San Diego, Orange County, Bakersfield and Fresno. The bus tour will hit the San Francisco Bay Area on May 14 before its final stop May 20 in Sacramento. Follow the tour at www.cta.org.