Schools on the Brink
By Brian Leubitz
As Jerry Brown continues with his listening tour on the budget, the fact that education will see a big portion of the cuts now seems like a fait accompli. The only remaining question, or so it seems, is how deep, and how the districts will deal with those cuts. There are no additional administrative efficiencies to save teachers, and our counseling, arts, and athletic programs have already hit bone, the next round will be job cuts to core curriculum teachers.
"It is abundantly clear that we will be looking at another round of cuts from the state," said Wayne Joseph, superintendent of the Chino Valley Unified School District. "The amount of cuts remains to be seen, but it is fiscally prudent for any district to try to plan for the worst-case scenario.
When California Rejected A Bad Tax Deal
By Robert Cruickshank
Over the last week, President Barack Obama's deal on the tax cuts - where he caves in to right-wing hostage taking and agrees to deficit-exploding tax cuts for the rich in order to get a few more months of unemployment benefits - has gotten a lot of criticism from progressives, who correctly see it as a very bad deal.
Many of those critics are here in California. And that is fitting, because we have faced this situation before - and we made the correct choice, to reject a bad deal designed to promote right-wing goals and instead keep fighting for progressive solutions.