Last month, my husband forwarded me an email from his school district's superintendent warning him and his fellow teachers that if the proposed "all-cuts" California budget passes, they are looking at four to six fewer weeks of school next year. (Yes, I said weeks.) I nearly laughed at first, it seemed so ludicrous, but this is no joke. It's come to these dire straits -- in school districts across the state of California.
Right now, we are looking square in the face of another $4 billion being cut from K-12 school funding and the loss of some 20,000 teaching jobs if we let the current tax rates expire this month. In the past three years, $20 billion has already been slashed from public education funding and 30,000 teachers have been laid off, according to the California Teachers Association. Â
California ranks dead last in the nation when it comes to student-teacher ratio, counselor-student ratio and librarian-student ratio; we are an abysmal 47th in per pupil spending, and 41st in school nurse-student ratio. The national education newspaper Education Week grades our state an "F" when it comes to supporting our schools and students.
All of this -- and the looming deadline for getting this temporary tax extension passed in the legislature -- is why our state's educators and their supporters declared a "State of Emergency" for California public education. Regional rallies were held last month in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Bernardino and San Diego, and smaller protests formed throughout the Golden State.
Sally Estep, president of my local Carlsbad Unified Teachers Association, puts it bluntly: "If you weigh continuing to live with the tax with what is going to happen if we let it expire, there is no comparison. Letting it expire will decimate our education system."Â
So, I am compelled to ask: Do we really value education in our state, and in our nation?
Whatever your political leanings, whatever your view on the "best" kind of education -- public or private schooling, homeschooling, traditional or alternative approaches -- and whatever you think about teachers unions, you likely agree that education is important. Politicians in both (all) parties spout this. We cannot expect the generations to come to create a stable economy, peaceful global relations or a sustainable environment if they are not given the opportunity to be educated. Our nation and democracy essentially rest on this belief.
And, yet, we are not putting our money where our values claim to be.
Riane Eisler argues in The Real Wealth of Nations, based on her three decades of ground-breaking research, that societies which truly value -- as in, invest in -- their human capital (e.g., their children, and the care and educating of them) have strikingly higher quality of life and economic stability across the board. Historically, those societies that ignore these values eventually collapse. Eisler reminds us that economic systems are human-made -- we have the choice, like the choice before California right now, to change them. Will we?
I am blessed to be married to an innovative educator (Alex Kajitani, who was selected as the 2009 California Teacher of the Year, and a Top 4 Finalist for National Teacher of the Year) and to be the daughter of innovative educators. I have written professionally about education since my internship at the now-defunct Teacher Magazine in 1994. We are a family who believes in the incalculable value of education for everyone.
And, yet, in all the conversations my family has had, as we watch the California public schools (which Alex and I both attended from elementary through high school) freefall, and as we explore alternative education for our own kids, we simply cannot see how losing quality public education in our state is going to help anyone. Even if the public education system needs to be revamped -- which I would argue that it most certainly does -- we must not sacrifice an entire generation of California's children in the process of revamping it. Letting this "all-cuts" budget pass would sacrifice those six million students.Â
So, whatever you believe about education, I urge you to get informed about what is happening to California public schools right now -- and the schools in your own area. I invite you to get involved in re-envisioning education in our country, and in this State of Emergency, in some way (attend events, contact your lawmakers, spread the word), to help give all students better options and opportunities, and to give all teachers the tools and support needed to teach well. I ask you to think long and hard about what the future of California -- and our nation -- will look like if our public schools go down in flames.Â
It's not a bad dream, and it's not a joke. California's public education system is hanging in the balance here, now, and it is up to us to decide what we truly value, and if we will do anything about it.
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So, the teacher's union won't invest in the futire of the children, so they want everybody else to chip in.
Californians face foreclosure, unemployment, depressed wages, loss of retirement, medical, unemployment benefits, higher taxes: UC Board of Regents Regent Lansing, President Yudof need to demonstrated leadership by curbing wages, benefits. As a Californian, I don't care what others earn at private, public universities. If wages better elsewhere, chancellors, vice chancellors, tenured, non tenured faculty, UCOP should apply for the positions. If wages commit employees to UC, leave for better paying position. The sky above UC will not fall.
Californians suffers from greatest deficit modern times. UC wages must reflect California's ability to pay, not what others are paid. Campus chancellors, tenured & non-tenured faculty, UCOP are replaceable by more talented academics
UC faculty, chancellor, vice chancellor, UCOP wage, concessions:
No furloughs
18 percent reduction in UCOP salaries & $50 million cut.
18 percent prune of campus chancellors', vice chancellors' salaries.
15 percent trim of tenured faculty salaries, increased teaching load
10 percent decrease in non-tenured faculty salaries, as well as increase research, teaching load
100% elimination of all Academic Senate, Academic Council costs, wages.
Once again, we call upon UC Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, Faculty, UCOP to stand up for California and ‘pitch in’ for Californians
Unions cost jobs, they do not create them
The lack of truthfulness in the media is about the need to cut the education budget because the state is broke due to investements in Wall Street, not that education costs need to be increased due to the various social issues that effect children and teachers are dealing with daily. Teachers are not magicians and children are not testing robots. You cannot teach them if you first do not show you care about them as human beings. Teachers are dealing with way more than simply teaching their subject matters. Shared responsibility is needed. THE REAL PROBLEM: Teachers are expected to be parents INSTEAD OF teachers. Making inflamatory comments is an effort to put the blame on the teachers.................BLAMING THE VICTIM MUCH!!
"7 years to get a teaching credential"
The union has forced teacher layoffs and has grown classrooms. The union forces schools to keep poor teachers. The unions prevents real reforms to increasing the education level of the kids.
I wonder if teachers that have all the above problems were allowed to correct them without the union blocking the changes, we would all benefit.
School districts dealing with the effects of reduced state funding & lower property tax revenues are now laying off, once job safe, Teachers.
Latest ~ Colleges are cutting student enrollment in their dealing with reduced state funding & fewer teachers.
http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2011/03/22/csu-to-enroll-fewer-students-amid-budget-cuts/
1982 Plyler v. Doe, needs to be revisited.
SCOTUS mandated K-12 education of all students residing in the USA, of which are 850,000 illegal foreign national students at $8,800 per student/year nat'l ave. ~ is now critically affecting the U.S. Citizen students' ability to obtain quality education AND the future of the U.S. Education system
California suffers from the greatest deficit modern times. UC wages, benefits must reflect California's ability to pay, not what others paid elsewhere. Campus chancellors, vice chancellors, tenured & non-tenured faculty, UCOP are replaceable by the more talented.
UC faculty, chancellor, vice chancellor wage concessions:
No furloughs
18 percent reduction in UCOP salaries & $50 million cut.
18 percent prune of campus chancellors', vice chancellors' salaries.
15 percent trim of tenured faculty salaries, increased teaching load
10 percent decrease in non-tenured faculty salaries, as well as increase research, teaching load
100% elimination of all Academic Senate, Academic Council costs, wages.
Rose bushes bloom after pruning.
UC Board of Regents Sherry Lansing, President Yudof can bridge the public trust gap by offering reassurances that UC salaries reflect depressed wages in California. The sky will not fall on UC
Thank you for advocating for all Californians, University of California
Lower (property) taxes are valued more..............sadly.
There are very few "extras" in school. Fact is, in the 15 years I have been teaching standards have been raised to the point that things that use to be expected in 7-8th grade are now expected in 4th-5th grade. Look at the math and writing standards for 4th and you will see things you were not expected to do in elementary. I remember the big writing test in 7th grade was to produce a really good paragraph. Now the 4th grade writing tests expects a 3-5 paragraph essay. I've had parents and community members look at the algebra my students were doing and ask me if I had a gifted class. No. That is what someone somewhere decided kids should be able to do.
If you want to go back 50 years in education then you are going to need to role back expectations to what you were expected to learn, too. Meanwhile, we have are trying to teach with out of date materials and ancient technology and look good on one questionable test.
And, ALL education funding is dependent upon the state
legislature agreeing on a budget. The clowns in Sacramento
take months and months to do this. Meantime, school districts
are in limbo, not knowing how much money they will have.
Bring back local funding of schools, and take the state out of
the equation.
That would be a giant step in the right direction.
Obviously, the answer is not about how much $$ you throw at an issue or spending 2 times as much now would mean better results than years ago and the real outcome is the opposite. The left has run our state and education for the last 40+ years. They always complain about being defunded yet they have failed to properly educate our kids.
Time for a change.
Where did you learn this?
Even if it's at a religious school whose "science" classes teach that the earth is 6,000 years old and human beings were contemporaÂries of dinosaurs?
So you're implying we should impose a nanny state to control how our population chooses to raise their offspring?
That seems a bit draconian, don't you think? We're where we are because of those who refused to conform to society, not slavishly accepted the status quo.
Your dinosaurs analogy is meaninglesÂs because in a world of truly free education, the masses would naturally be drawn to the more logical and sensible conclusionÂs. This isn't about indoctrinaÂtion, it's about freedom of expression and our right to raise our children within the scope of our best intentionsÂ.
Dayne
I want to apologize for DMD using 'facts' to counter you.He,of all places,this shouldn't be allowed
illegals. The majority are on public assistance. Nearly 50% of prisoners are illegal, yet many people
say come on in we'll take care of you. At the same time companies are leaving because of taxes and
mandatory benefits. Thats much of the reason there isn't any money for education. Remember,
illegal entitlements are government mandated.
the school is not permitted to ask for verification of US
citizenship.
Why is that???