This Battle Is About More Than Schools
On March 4th, 2010, students, faculty, school workers and parents took to the streets in various cities across the United States. The bulk of the protests occurred in California, where the public education system is the target of a full bore head-on attack by the state and some of its corporate backers. There were walkouts, rallies, highway takeovers and a number of other protests and direct actions. The primary demand of the protesters was to rescind the cuts and fee hikes immediately. This day of protest was part of an ongoing series of actions dedicated to this goal. The movement’s organizers include students, community members, parents, and education workers. The politics range from anarchist to liberal Democrat. The movement has shown some success in organizing folks, but has yet to show any real victories as regards its demands.
In the spring of 2009, a similar movement developed in Vermont around the same type of issues. The primary difference however was that the Vermont movement was oriented toward opposing proposed college tuition hikes, layoffs, and other budgetary manipulations conceived by the administration and trustees at the University of Vermont. In addition, a fair amount of righteous anger was directed at the trustees and administration after it was revealed that the majority of the top-heavy university administration had received bonuses that totaled almost a million dollars. A similar situation exists in California where university and college administrators across the state have received salary increases and other monetary rewards while they tell the citizens of the state that tuition will be going up and that classes will be cut, thereby reducing the number of places available for high school students and others interested in higher education.
In Washington State, a movement is developing around announced budget cuts aimed at the public education system–from kindergarten to the university. Just as in other places mentioned in this article, the proposed cuts will hit those who can least afford it. That is, working class families, many of whom are either unemployed or partially employed due to the current
