California School Reform Shouldn't Look Like This
Jakada ImaniThe Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
The California State Department of Education recently released student performance rankings based on standardized tests. In the suburban Pleasanton school district, every single school scored in the top 20 percent statewide. In the city of Oakland, however, 50% of our schools received the lowest possible rank.
On the heel of these new rankings, the California budget was released- cutting school budgets to the bone. Additionally the Governor is championing Senate Bill 955 which would attack the rights of school employees to have a due process in firings and would disregard seniority in layoffs. Though SB955 is being portrayed as good for low income communities of color, in truth it's just a divide-and-conquer strategy to attack unions and shift the debate away from the schools' lack of resources as the root of our educational problems.
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Schwarzenegger’s Values on Clear Display in May Revise
By Willie PeloteAFSCME
Before unveiling his 2010-2011 budget revision last week, Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he believed the state budget should be “a reflection of what we in California value most and also it should be a representation of what our administration stands for, in good times or in bad.”
By purposely turning a blind eye to the billions of taxpayer dollars being squandered every year to subsidize the activities, high salaries, and pension costs of wealthy executives and multinational corporations in the private sector in favor of reviving a series of discredited proposals to eviscerate the Golden State’s network of social infrastructure, Schwarzenegger has clearly demonstrated the kind of values that he believes in.
Worse, it would seem that he is intent on foisting these values upon the majority of citizens of this state who support public services.
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Cutting CalWORKS, Schwarzenegger Channels Pete Wilson
By Viji SundharamNew America Media
In calling for the elimination of California’s welfare-to-work program, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ensured that, like former Gov. Pete Wilson, he will best be remembered for his disdain for the state’s poor children and parents.
On Friday, the governor unveiled a revised budget plan that shreds a vital safety net for some 1.4 million needy Californians: the CalWORKS program. In part, the program allows single mothers to find childcare while they go to school to learn new skills. By eliminating it, the governor said, the state could save $1.6 billion and shrink its $19 billion deficit.
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