Arnold's School Budget Cuts Spark Protests - Huffington Post

Friends and Colleagues:

Like many parents, I'm tired of going to silent auctions and bake sales to raise money for my children's public schools. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed $4 billion in cuts to California's public schools has sparked grassroots protests across the state, including one tomorrow (Friday afternoon) in my own Pasadena Unified School District, which is faced with making $14 million in cuts.  My latest article for the Huffington Post looks at this burgeoning movement, its potential, and some of the obstacles it has to overcome (and mentions my daughters Amelia and Sarah so they can see their names in print).

Once among the best public education systems in the nation – from kindergarten through college – California has now sunk to one of the worst. California ranks 46th in the nation in per-student spending, according to Education Week -- $7,081 compared with the national average of $8,973.   It ranks 49th in the number of students per teacher, resulting in large average class sizes. It is at the very bottom in the ratio of counselors, librarians, and school nurses to students. It ranks 37th in school spending as a percentage of state taxable resources.

At the state level, the California Teachers Association, the California School Board Association, and the state PTA are coordinating the lobbying efforts in Sacramento to challenge the cuts, although the local protests have resulted from indigenous activism. Although both the state Senate and Assembly have Democratic majorities, a two-thirds vote in both houses is needed to pass a budget. As a result, the school protesters need to identify two (out of 15) Republicans in the 40-member Senate and six (out of 32) Republicans in the 80-member Assembly who will go along with some combination of cuts and increased taxes – a difficult goal given the hard-line conservativism of the state's GOP legislators.

In other words, a handful of right-wing GOP legislators, plus the Republican governor, are standing in the way of my kids' schools getting the funding they need. 

If you want to learn more about these protests and how you can connect, go to this website.  If you happen to live or work in Pasadena, Altadena, or Sierra Madre (the communities that make up the Pasadena Unified School District) and want to get involved, attend tomorrow's (Friday's) protests (taking place at each school in the district around 4 pm), or help organize the citywide march on Saturday, May 31,  contact Tracy Mikuriya at tracymikuriya [at] earthlink [dot] net)

Peter