Students Bearing the Brunt of Cutbacks in California
By Eming Piansay
The budget crisis gripping California is forcing most city and county governments across the state to squeeze spending by local departments -- and unfortunately for public school students, the education sector has become a number-one target for cutbacks.
State funding cuts were the main topic during a panel discussion of budget experts and ethnic media reporters, who gathered last week at New America Media in San Francisco to talk about how the economic recession is playing out in California classrooms.
A chief concern voiced at the briefing was how cuts to education have influenced student-teacher relationships.
Anna Lima, a third-grade teacher at Acorn Woodland Elementary in Oakland, Calif., nearly lost her job because of the budget cuts and has seen first-hand how the cuts have affected school moral.