California educators RIF'd
Volume 12, Issue 7 - April 2008
Stories by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin
Photos by Scott Buschman
Students in overcrowded classrooms. Programs eliminated for art, music, sports and career technical training. No money for books, classroom materials, pencils, paper or crayons. Access restricted to higher education at colleges and universities. All of these things may happen if the state government balances the budget deficit on the backs of society’s most vulnerable members — the children. Only last spring, Gov. Schwarzenegger declared 2008 “The Year of Education” and spoke of investing in the future of public schools. But with a $16 billion budget deficit looming, for public schools 2008 may turn out to be the year of deprivation.
 |
| The shirt says it all. Capistrano Unified Education Association member Liza Dembiec was pink-slipped and wears a shirt designed by teacher Kathy Willsey. |
From a historical perspective, the year 2008 may very well compare to 1978, when Proposition 13 slashed property taxes and cut funding to public schools, prompting California to go from “First to Worst.”
Before the budget crisis, Education Week ranked California 46th out of 50 states in per-pupil funding. In fact, California spends $1,900 less per student than the national average. However, with the $4.8 billion that the governor’s state budget proposes to cut from public schools, the Golden State could soon be in last place, predicts Christopher Swanson, who directed the research for the Education Week report.
“There’s not much further to drop when you’re 46th in the nation,” says Swanson. “And with a significant drop in spending across the board, I’d expect California to drop even lower.”
The proposed $4.8 billion in cuts would be equivalent to any of the following: increasing class sizes by 35 percent; laying off 107,000 teachers; laying off 137,000 education support professionals; or cutting $800 per student.
The situation is ominous. But after living on the precipice of financial crisis year after year, Californians have become jaded to cries of catastrophe. The harsh reality of this year’s situation has not registered quickly with the general public.
“I think a lot of work needs to be done when it comes to educating the general public and voters as to what the realities are,” says Jean Ross, director of the California Budget Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research group. “We’ve coped very well in the past and have been very resilient with public services, because people are very good at doing a lot with a little. I think voters assume we can stretch things a little further; they hear it every year. But this is a particularly bad year. I think we are facing the toughest year I’ve seen in the past two decades.”
Districts have announced draconian cuts for the 2008-09 school year. These include laying off 14,000 teachers, counselors, librarians and nurses — over 18,000 when ESP and other employees are included — and cutting art, music and career technical education programs.
The cutbacks jeopardize the hard-fought progress that California students and schools have achieved. Reading scores are up 25 percent and math scores have increased 17 percent in the last four years. Such progress cannot continue with the proposed cuts to our schools.
CTA strongly opposes the governor’s budget proposal and his plans to overturn Proposition 98, the state’s minimum school funding law, which was approved by voters 20 years ago, asserts CTA President David A. Sanchez.
“Our minimum school funding guarantee must be protected,” says Sanchez. “Our children didn’t create this budget deficit. Their education and their futures shouldn’t be ransomed to solve it. The governor’s proposal to balance the state budget through cuts alone would be devastating to our students and the future of California. Any approach to solve the budget crisis must include increased revenues.”
CTA’s State Budget Crisis Organizing Plan — developed by members, leaders and staff — will lead CTA through the fight to approve a state budget that funds public schools and colleges and protects Prop. 98. It will be very different from past CTA political campaigns, says Sanchez.
The proposed cuts would be devastating to California as a whole and cause irreversible damage to our state. The budget would cut over a billion dollars out of hospitals and the health care system we all rely on. This will directly restrict access to care for 6 million Californians — largely low-income children, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities — but it will affect all of us by endangering the health care facilities we rely on. Combined with the current rate of inflation, job and benefit insecurity, and the housing market crash, taking away vital services our families depend on is the wrong thing to do at this time.
CTA is taking this fight on the road — by launching the “Cuts Hurt” Bus Tour. The tour, which started in Los Angeles at State Council the weekend of April 6, will roll through to Chapter Presidents Lobby Day (May 20) and California ESP Day. Each stop is designed to augment local organizing in local communities. The “Cuts Hurt” bus will wind through the state spreading the word about these painful cuts and inviting members and other concerned citizens to join the fight to denounce the governor’s proposed budget (see story).
“This is not going to be easy and it’s not going to get any prettier,” says Sanchez. “It’s going to be a long battle. And the longer the budget crisis continues, the more difficult it will be for our members. But we must continue to show everyone how it will impact students, schools and colleges — causing lawmakers to see the need to increase revenue.”
Sanchez encourages members to act at the local level to show what these cuts mean to local communities. “CTA has been actively engaged in this fight, already preventing deep mid-year cuts, and will continue to be engaged to the very end. We need to tell members to act at the local level. CTA isn’t standing by and neither should you.”
The following articles show the human cost of the proposed budget cuts and how they will affect, and in some cases have already affected, students and educators in our public schools.
