Terri Jackson isn't exaggerating when she sums up the importance of the beleaguered West Contra Costa school district's upcoming parcel tax vote.
"Our future is really in the hands of the voters," says Jackson, president of United Teachers of Richmond. "It really is."
UTR members were phone banking and helping the district mobilize voters as ballots for the crucial mail-in vote began arriving in homes May 10. Voters have until June 8 to mail back ballots - and maybe save the district from massive cuts, teacher layoffs and the gutting of sports, music and education programs. Measure B would generate about $8 million a year.
Voters rejected a similar parcel tax in March. "I think the voters didn't believe that the district was serious about making deep cuts," says Jackson. "They thought the district was lying. But these cuts are for real, and they are serious."
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Richmond teachers pack a hearing where the district's attempt to lay off more than 470 teachers is appealed. |
The sprawling district, which serves 32,000 students in Richmond, Pinole, Hercules, El Cerrito, San Pablo, El Sobrante and Kensington, faces a $16.5 million deficit. Earlier this year it announced that it was making massive cuts - laying off all librarians and counselors and getting rid of all school sports.
Teachers fought the district's attempts to lay off more than 470 of the district's 1,900 teachers. After an emotional April 5 appeals hearing that attracted news coverage from six local television stations, the number of layoffs was reduced to about 330 teachers, counselors, librarians and counselors. The effort to save more positions continues as the state's May 15 deadline for final teacher layoff decisions looms.
Meanwhile, teachers are mobilizing the community to pass Measure B and prevent cuts, getting the word out on the campaign's website [http://www.yesonb.com/] and the UTR website [http://www.utrichmond.org/]. While the district's smaller classes for K-3 students are still intact, their fate hinges on passage of the parcel tax, the district is warning.
"If Measure B doesn't pass, smaller classes will be gone by the fall of 2005," predicts Jackson.
With a two-thirds majority needed to pass Measure B, every vote counts. In addition to making sure chapter members mail in their ballots, UTR is asking members to walk precincts to explain the urgency of the situation face to face.
Teachers are also frustrated by the refusal of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help the struggling school district save $600,000 a year by merely allowing it to refinance a bailout loan of $28.5 million it got from the state in 1991.
The loan has a 5.7 percent interest rate, much higher than the 1.8 percent interest Oakland Unified is paying on the $65 million bailout loan it received from the state last year, according to an editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle. The piece quoted Assembly Member Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley), who is putting pressure on the governor to allow the district to refinance the old loan.
"These students," she says, "should not have to pay for mistakes made by a group of adults over a decade ago, none of whom is around any longer."
Mike Myslinski
