Budget Cuts Spell Even More Trouble For Low Achieving Schools - KCBS

Budget Cuts Spell Even More Trouble For Low Achieving Schools - KCBS

Budget Cuts Spell Even More Trouble for Low Achieving Schools

MARTINEZ, Calif. (KCBS) -- Six schools in the Mount Diablo Unified School District are facing possible sanctions from the state at a time when the district already has to do more with less. The six schools were on the list of persistently low-achieving schools released by the California Department of Education this week ahead of efforts to win more federal grants for education. KCBS' Dave Padilla reports Teachers union president Mike Noce blamed the state for creating a problem by cutting so much money from school district budgets. “If they really wanted the schools to be successful, they would invest in them. They would use strategies that have proven to work rather than making things harder,” he said. The school board just chopped nearly $50 million from the budget through 2013, and 200 teachers have been sent layoff notices for the end of the year. Noce suspects state officials are setting public schools up for failure, “so that we can have more charters.” He believes education tax credits simply encourage parents to abandon public education