Assemblyman leads fight against school cuts
Petition circulated for calls for $2.3B funds restoration
SF Examiner, 4/7/05
Kate Williamson
DALY CITY
State Assemblyman Leland Yee, D-Daly City, led a small but impassioned group of educators Wednesday in calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to re-think budget cuts to public education in light of California’s failing grades in performance and per-pupil spending.
“It looks like kids are not our governor’s special interest,” Steve Savage, president of the South San Francisco Classroom teachers Association. “It looks like kids in poverty are not his interest at all.”
Speakers at the town hall meeting at Daly City’s Westmoor High School protested what they described as the governor’s failure to repay money he borrowed from education last year and additional cuts that would remove a combined $2.3 billion from public education for 2005-2006.
“He is not fulfilling his original promise of giving you back the money, and wants to take a little more money,” Yee said. “There are going to be some districts in the state of California that may become insolvent.”
Meanwhile, schools are hurting, said westmoor art teacher Emily Faxon.
She described how she had to request donations from parents for supplies such as paintbrushes and ink. At Daly City’s Jefferson Elementary School District, two schools were closed last year and the board is looking at more closures. Speakers also pointed to studies that have shown that California ranks near the bottom in per-pupil spending.
The speakers also opposed four of the governors proposals currently making the rounds in Sacramento.
The most significant of the proposals involves suspending Proposition 98, which voters approved in 1988 as a minimum-funding structure for schools.
The other three involve implementing a merit pay system for teachers, privatizing teacher pension funds and a “paycheck protection” plan that would make it more difficult for teachers’ unions to act politically, Savage said.
“How are we going to attract those professionals we need?” he asked, noting that the security of regular pay and the pension system are what make it feasible for college-educated people to take low-paying jobs.
He also said a merit pay system based on test scores will cause teachers to flee schools that have students from low-income and foreign language backgrounds, who traditionally score worse on standardized tests.
Yee is currently circulating a petition to protest the $2.3 billion budget cuts, and will gather signatures himself at public events throughout April. He and selected children and parents will deliver the signatures to the governor before May 15.
The teachers will be rallying at points along El Camino Real throughout San Mateo County from 4 to 6 p.m. on May 22. They will then rally in Sacramento May 25 at 4 p.m., Savage said.
|
