If Oak Middle School had adequate funding, the first thing that Kendall Vaught would do is lower class size at the Orange County campus.
"Many of our core classes have more than 35 students in them," says Vaught, a member of the Los Alamitos Education Association and the CTA Educational Change Workgroup, which is recommending that CTA pursue action toward achieving "adequate and equitable" school funding.
"We would also have counselors at my school," says Vaught. "Right now they're getting rid of all of our counselors."
Vaught, like most teachers, sees "adequate" funding as providing the kinds of things that were once taken for granted at public schools rather than viewed as luxuries. She considers her school to be better off than many, since it has a solid base of parents who hold fundraising events to help fill the funding gaps.
But still, it's not enough, she says. "The idea for adequacy funding is that you have to provide enough money to allow kids to meet the standards. Everything is standards-based. I don't think we have enough funding to meet all of the obligations that have been imposed by the state and federal governments. It's like the government is saying, 'We want you to do all these things, but we only have this amount to give to you. But, oh well, do it anyway.'"
Another workgroup member, Don Steinruck, says he could stop spending his own money for supplies if Smith River Elementary School in Del Norte County were adequately funded. A member of the Del Norte Teachers Association, he gets $700 for supplemental materials to be divvied up between students in his language arts, history and PE classes over the entire year.
"If I had sufficient funding, I would definitely do more hands-on activities with my students," says Steinruck. "We would have up-to-date microscopes for science experiments. We would go on field trips, too. We live in a rural area where we don't have access to many cultural things and museums, so it would be nice to be able to take the kids to Humboldt State University or go across the border into Oregon for the Shakespeare Festival. That would be really cool."
As for what San Bernardino schools could accomplish if they were adequately funded, workgroup member and CTA Board member Mikki Cichocki sounds amazed that anyone would even ask. "If we had adequate school funding — oh, my gosh — we'd have smaller class sizes," she says. "Right now we have 34 kids in elementary school classes, 36 kids in middle school classes and 40 kids in high school classes.
"Our kids in San Bernardino have some challenges, and being in classes with fewer students would give them better opportunities to receive individual attention from teachers, who may be looking at 200 kids a day if they have five classes with 40 kids each. Our teachers are working hard and doing the best we can, but I think we'd be a lot more effective with fewer kids."
She would also like to see more vocational and alternative programs for students who require something besides the traditional fare.
Tim Kinney, a workgroup member and a member of Associated Pomona Teachers, says that adequate school funding would provide books for the 400 music students he teaches. The schools would also own musical instruments that students could check out for free instead of having to rent them from music stores.
If there were adequate funding for education, adds Kinney, there would be a higher rate of teacher retention in the Pomona Unified School District. Since the district does not offer teachers adequate health care, many decide to leave when they have families of their own.
"With adequate health care provided by adequate funding, more of our experienced teachers would stay — and that would benefit students."
