BURLINGAME – As the state’s schools prepare for the beginning of a new school year, the California Teachers Association today is hitting the airwaves and newspapers to remind everyone that a quality public education isn’t just the best investment we can make in our children – it’s the best investment we can make in everyone’s future.
The statewide radio and print campaign marks the ninth annual back-to-school campaign to remind all Californians that public education is essential to building stronger local communities and a better California for all of us.
This school year, California students will be returning to classes that are very different from the ones they left in June. With $6 billion in additional cuts made by the state Legislature, California’s education funding has been cut by more than $17 billion over a two-year period – the greatest single cut since the Great Depression. As a result, students are returning to schools with larger class sizes; fewer teachers, since more than 20,000 were laid off; and fewer opportunities to take art, music and vocational education classes.
“We want to remind the people of this state that their future depends on these children receiving a quality education, that teaching and learning is more than a test score, and educators need resources to help our students succeed,” said CTA President David A. Sanchez. “We must find a solution to what has become chronic underfunding of schools, for everyone’s sake.”
The radio ad features several students describing what they want to be when they grow up, while teachers tell the radio audience that quality schools do more than give children a chance to dream – they are an investment in the state’s future.
The radio ads begin Monday and run for three weeks on stations in every media market in the state, including Spanish- and Asian-language stations. The print ads will appear in about 40 ethnic newspapers, including African American, Latino, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Hmong, Vietnamese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Armenian, and Native American publications.
The radio ads are posted on the CTA website: www.cta.org