Teachers send a message to Sacramento: We can't afford an education recession

Teachers are using the state's budget crisis as a 'teachable moment' as they try to educate the public and lawmakers about the need to protect public schools from funding cuts and layoffs.

With Gov. Gray Davis proposing to slash $6.7 billion from schools and community colleges over the next 18 months, including immediate cuts of $2.7 billion, teachers and other school employees are using town hall meetings, news conferences, protest marches and informational leafleting at the local level, to methodically drive home the message that the state budget should not be balanced on the backs of students.

Thanks to their hard work, combined with thousands of letters and e-mails to lawmakers, CTA has already won some key victories for the current school year. Although the Legislature has approved a plan for cutting more than $2.2 billion from K-12 schools, it does not include any across-the-board cuts, reductions to the base revenue limit, teacher furloughs or class size increases. Unfortunately, the governor is threatening to veto it because it includes an increase in the vehicle license fee.

In the meantime, these are some of the ways teachers are continuing to influence the debate in Sacramento and at home:

SANTA ROSA - As state legislators continued to debate cutting billions of dollars in public education funding, alarmed Sonoma County teachers spoke out at a news conference about the impact those cuts would have on students, classrooms and communities.

"It's time to speak up. The education funding cuts being discussed in Sacramento will hurt our students the most," said Mike Schroeder, president of the Rohnert Park-Cotati Education Association. "We understand the state is facing a budget deficit, but some of the cuts that are being proposed are incomprehensible. How can we expect our students to achieve when we are cutting the resources they need to improve?"

Local school districts are proposing midyear budget cuts of $2.5 million from Santa Rosa city schools and $1.5 million from Cotati-Rohnert Park schools. Administrators in the Sonoma Valley Unified and Healdsburg school districts are threatening to lay off teachers, while the 485-student Harmony School District is contemplating closing a school.

The Sonoma County Educators Council, which includes Schroeder and other CTA chapter presidents from throughout Sonoma County, held the news conference before a meeting to discuss the local impact of proposed state budget cuts.

STOCKTON - Fed up with the school district's tactics of using the state budget crisis to demand health benefit concessions at the bargaining table, more than 300 Stockton Unified teachers and school support workers held a rally before chapter leaders addressed a school board meeting Jan. 28.

"The Stockton Unified School District is using the state budget crisis as an excuse to threaten teachers with massive layoffs and to increase our out-of-pocket costs for health benefits," said Bonnie Boggs, president of the 2,300-member Stockton Teachers Association. "Teachers are outraged that a district with $30 million in unrestricted reserves would do this. The state budget crisis is real, but the district's deceptions are not."

The rally included school employees represented by the California School Employees Association (CSEA) and the Teamsters. CSEA members and teachers are in contract negotiations that have stalled over the district's demand to place a cap on what it pays for health benefit premiums. Elementary teachers also want paid, non-teaching prep time during the school day.

FRESNO - The Fresno Teachers Association conducted a poll of its 4,600 members, the results of which showed they strongly favor laying off or cutting the work year of Fresno Unified central office administrators to avoid classroom program cuts. The results were shared with the news media at a press conference before they were delivered to the school board.

The poll was in response to a survey the district conducted among teachers and parents to see what might be the most acceptable way of dealing with the state's budget crisis. Cutting administrators was not presented as an option.

Teachers are skeptical of the superintendent's claim that 100 central office administrators will receive layoff notices by March 15, which is also the deadline to notify teachers, says Fresno Teachers Association (FTA) President Sherry Wood.

"Our union survey results reflect teachers' strong concerns for our students and the classroom," Wood says. "The district started this school year with $21 million in unrestricted reserves in the bank. For the sake of our students, teachers strongly favor using those reserves and cutting administrators before making cuts that hurt classroom programs."

MT. DIABLO - Contra Costa County teachers, school board members and district administrators delivered a special Valentine's Day message to the state Legislature: If you love California's kids, don't cut the education budget.

Teachers from the Mt. Diablo Education Association worked in teams with administrators and board members to distribute leaflets to Contra Costa residents at four commuter rail stations beginning at 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 14. Commuters at Bay Point, Concord, North Concord and Pleasant Hill BART stops were handed leaflets containing information about the education budget and what Californians can do to help protect education funding.

In addition, teachers greeted parents dropping off their children at district school sites with the same information and talked to them about what they could do to help.

"This is a vital issue for all of us - teachers, parents, students and the community - so we're sending a Valentine for the children," said Jean Carroll, president of the 2,000-member Mt. Diablo Education Association. "Our students have made great progress in recent years. We must protect basic funding levels for education and preserve our class size reduction program. These are basic to school improvement."

GLENDORA - Leaders of CTA chapters in Service Center One met with elected officials over Saturday breakfast to discuss the future of education in California. Teachers told the officials they feared the funding cuts being contemplated by the Legislature could send the state into an education recession.

The Jan. 28 legislative roundtable was organized by the Service Center's Community Outreach Action Team (COAT), a special project developed with assistance from CTA.

Participating in the meeting were Assembly Members Dennis Mountjoy (R-59), Ed Chavez (D-57), Bob Pacheco (R-60), Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-61), Judy Chu (D-49) and Nell Soto (D-32), and State Board of Equalization Chair John Chiang.

"We had some very productive discussions about important issues like protecting class size reduction," said Associated Chino Teachers President Don Bridge. "Teachers feel it's critical to meet with these legislators now to discuss the future of education in our state and to urge them to protect public schools from harmful budget cuts."

COSTA MESA - Community college instructors from around the state met in Orange County recently to discuss the current budget crisis in higher education and make plans for the upcoming year. Joining them at the annual CTA/Community College Association Winter Advocacy Conference was state Senator Betty Karnette (D-27), who discussed the state's gloomy budget for higher education with association members.

"Higher education has been hit hard by the budget crisis; and community colleges - which serve the poorest students in the state - have been hit the hardest," said Dián Hasson, president of the Community College Association, which represents 5,000 community college faculty members statewide. "The governor's proposed budget cuts will increase student fees and force the system to deny access to almost 150,000 students. Our voice must be heard by our elected officials in Sacramento."

PASADENA - A coalition of teachers, school board members and state employees from La Canada, Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank expressed their concerns regarding possible education cuts at a news conference in front of Assembly Member Carol Liu's office Jan. 28.

Following the conference, the coalition presented Liu a resolution urging the protection of California schools.

Representatives of the La Canada Teachers Association, Glendale Teachers Association, Pasadena Community College Association, Pasadena Teachers Association and the La Canada Unified School District attended.

SANTA CLARA - Facing drastic cuts to classroom programs if the governor's state budget proposals are approved, hundreds of Santa Clara Unified parents and teachers joined supporters from other South Bay school districts in a four-mile "Walk for Education" Feb. 8.

Santa Clara Unified, Sunnyvale Elementary School District and Palo Alto Unified are among the state's 59 "basic aid" school districts that face massive extra cuts on top of the spending reductions sought by Gov. Davis for all schools.

Unlike most school districts, basic aid districts rely almost entirely on local property tax revenue - most of which the governor wants to divert to the state to help ease the massive state budget deficit, says Bob Nichols, a San Jose teacher who represents Santa Clara Valley teachers on CTA's Board of Directors.

"Teachers and parents are protesting to warn the public that these kinds of drastic cuts would devastate local school budgets," says Nichols. "Students would suffer, programs would be slashed, and California would be forced into an education recession."

LANCASTER - A coalition of teachers, parents, school administrators and school board members in Antelope Valley took its plea to protect California schoolchildren to Assembly Member Sharon Runner Jan. 28. The coalition, which is deeply concerned about the impact of cuts that have been proposed in response to the state budget deficit, presented Runner, a member of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee, with a resolution urging the protection of California schools.

"We are urging Assembly Member Runner to work with her colleagues to protect schools and develop a long-term and comprehensive solution to the current budget shortfall," said Gary Roberts, president of Antelope Valley Teachers Association. "We can't afford to send California into an education recession. Our kids deserve better."

Attending the rally and news conference in front of Runner's office were representatives of the Mojave Faculty Association, Westside Union Teachers Association, Acton-Agua Dulce Teachers Association, Rosamond Teachers Association, Eastside Teachers Association, Muroc Education Association, Antelope Valley Teachers Association, Teachers Association of Lancaster and Wilsona Teachers Association.

CALAVERAS - Concerned citizens in the Calaveras Unified School District held a town hall meeting Feb. 20 in response to the state budget crisis. Senator Rico Oller (R-1) and Assembly Member Dave Cogdill (R-25) spoke at the event as did the district superintendent and three parents. The speeches were followed by a question-and-answer style forum with administrators, teachers, students and parents participating.

The purpose of the meeting was to inform the public of the potential consequences from the proposed cuts to district and state funding, and to voice the community's concerns about the cuts, says Kevin Hesser, a member of the Calaveras Unified Educators Association, who helped organize the event. CUEA President Teresa Fasola says the turnout of more than 400 Mother Lode citizens had to send a message to the guests from Sacramento.

"I don't see how we can continue to push for California's high educational standards without support programs in place for students at both ends of the curve," said parent Mellissa Brettelle at the forum.

"If it takes up to six years to recover from these cuts, my two children (ages 4 and 7) will spend half of their school years at a disadvantage. For other parents, the recovery could encompass their child's entire high school career. It is my hope that our elected officials can take our community's concerns back with them to Sacramento, and keep education a top priority as these budget negotiations take place over the next few months."

From reports by Frank Wells, Mike Myslinski, Dale Martin, Sheri Miyamoto, Rebecca Zoglman and Kevin Hesser