Education advocates to hold rally in Balboa Park
Group opposes cuts to public schools
FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2010 AT 12:04 A.M.
/ COURTESY PHOTO / CARLOS LEGERRETTE
Parents, teachers, community activists and other members of Educate for the Future plan Saturday’s rally against further cuts to public schools last weekend in Golden Hill at the home of Carlos LeGerrette.
RALLY FOR OUR SCHOOLS
Who: Educate for the Future and advocates
What: A rally to stop state education cuts
When: Saturday; entertainment at 9:30 a.m., speakers at 10 a.m.
Where: Balboa Park, Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street
SAN DIEGO — They have been meeting every Sunday morning for months — same time, same Golden Hill home, same concerns — to plan an education rally aimed at sending Sacramento a message:
No more cuts to schools.
Some parents, educators, students and others who make up Educate for the Future have jokingly referred to the weekly sessions as their own church service.
That makes Saturday’s Rally for Our Schools a full-on religious holiday.
“The rally is designed to create a space for a lot of people who care about public schools to just come around together about one common message,” said Richard Barrera, the San Diego school board president and one of the organizers. “It’s about encouraging people to get active, to send a message a week before the governor comes out with his May (budget) revise.”
Education advocates throughoutCalifornia have staged events and activities in recent weeks to stop Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger from going ahead with a proposed $2.5 billion cut to public education funds in next year’s budget.
But in San Diego, activists hope their rally is the beginning of a larger movement to influence lawmakers and call them out on broken campaign promises to support education. The more people the group represents, the more clout members say they will have in Sacramento and in San Diego.
“Everybody in Sacramento wants to say they support education; they find it very easy to say,” said Barrera, a