By Mike Myslinski
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Monterey High School PTSA President Jane Mitchel addresses the news media on behalf of the Education Coalition. Presenting a united front are coalition representatives Roger Salazar, Alisal Teachers Association member John Aaron, Franklin-McKinley School District Superintendent Larry Aceves, King City library technician Leslie Girard and Salinas Valley Federation of Teachers President Phil Moore |
It represents more than 1 million stakeholders in California's public schools, it protects our 6.2 million students from attacks on the education system, and it has the power to rattle the governor's public relations machine.
It's the California Education Coalition, in which CTA and other organizations representing more than a million teachers, parents, school employees and administrators put differences aside to speak with one voice for students and our schools. And it's flexing its power in many strategic ways.
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched his attacks on teachers, public pensions and public employee unions in January, the Education Coalition immediately fought back with news conferences and a statewide radio ad that rebukes him for breaking his promise to students and schools.
"Our schools are the product of teachers, parents and communities working together, and the Education Coalition speaks for the entire education community," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr. "This governor's proposed budget and his so-called education reforms are an outright attack on our public schools and teachers. The governor is a formidable opponent, but the Education Coalition is leveling the playing field."
The Education Coalition combines nine vital groups: CTA; the California Federation of Teachers; California State PTA; Service Employees International Union; California School Employees Association; Association of California School Administrators; California School Boards Association; California County Superintendents Educational Services Association; and the California Association of School Business Officials.
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Aaron presents the teachers' point of view at the hearing |
In the coalition's ad, paid for by CTA, a concerned citizen calls the governor to tell him to keep his promises on school funding. Getting only as far as an uninterested switchboard operator, he explains that the governor is shortchanging schools. In the end, she replies, "Sir, what were you expecting?" and breaks out in loud laughter.
With teachers, parents and administrators warning about the impact of the governor's attacks, his popularity ratings have dropped 10 points since September.
New California polls in February showed that 51 percent of the public opposes the governor's education reforms and believes that education should be the top priority. Fifty-three percent of registered voters think the state is going in the wrong direction.
"The Terminator could meet his match in teachers — and schoolkids and parents," wrote Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton.
The Education Coalition organized recent news conferences in Sacramento, Fresno, Salinas and San Diego to educate the public about the governor's broken promises. These strategic events preceded town hall hearings on education conducted by the state Senate Subcommittee on Education, where coalition representatives testified.
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Outside the event, teachers like Dean Keisker (below) from Salinas and community supporters send messages to Sacramento |
At its Feb. 24 San Diego event, the coalition was represented by area parents, teachers, school employees, school board members and administrators who told the media how the governor withheld $2 billion from this year's education budget and wants to gut voter-approved Proposition 98, which provides minimum funding protections for schools.
"Last year at this time, the Education Coalition, representing more than 1 million members, worked with this governor on a solution for the state's budget problem — a problem that was not created by our kids," said Suzanne Meloy, 9th District PTA president. "This governor promised that $2 billion in funding for our schools would be restored and that our kids would receive their fair share of any additional state revenues. He has broken his promise, and once again our kids and our schools will suffer."
San Diego area cuts are tied to the state's underfunding of public education.
"In Oceanside alone, district bus service to all middle and high schools has been discontinued, which means 10,000 students have to find another way to get to school," said Oceanside High School counselor David Lee, who serves as president of the Oceanside Teachers Association. "The district is considering laying off more than 80 teachers. California students deserve better. The governor needs to keep his promise to our schools."
Administrators agreed.
"The governor's proposals ignore the will of the voters and weaken school funding protections by allowing devastating midyear cuts to our schools," said Rudy Castruita, San Diego County superintendent of schools. "I've been a strong supporter of Governor Schwarzenegger in the past, but his current proposals would be disastrous for schools and students in San Diego County and California."
In Salinas, a coalition news conference and a CTA-organized "Save Proposition 98" rally of local CTA and CFT teachers and sympathetic labor members coincided with the Feb. 17 state Senate town hall hearing on education.
"In the past four years, California's schools have endured billions in funding cuts," said news conference speaker Phil Moore, president of the Salinas Valley Federation of Teachers. "As a parent and a classroom teacher, I see how these cuts impact our local schools every day. We should be investing more in our kids, not cutting."
Holding a protest sign outside the community center, Velvali Huston, a first-grade teacher in the financially strapped Salinas City Elementary School District and a member of the Salinas Elementary Teachers Council, vented her frustrations with the governor. "I can't believe the governor is pitting himself against educators, children and teachers," she said. "I think that is a real mistake."
Inside the hearing, John Aaron, a sixth-grade teacher in the nearby Alisal Union School District and a member of the Alisal Teachers Association, told the senators, "Because of school funding shortfalls, we're already jamming more kids into each classroom. Since 2001, California public schools have been ravaged by cuts in excess of $9.8 billion. Those cuts have hurt our classrooms and our students terribly."
His district has cut back classroom supplies, PE and art classes. Teachers are spending hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars out of pocket for student materials. "You don't have to be a 30-year teacher to know that the funding has dropped. You can see it everywhere around you."
