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Published: Sunday, March 14, 2010
Updated: Monday, March 15, 2010
Last week many students, faculty and staff from the 10 campuses in the University of California system walked out of class for a demonstration billed “Day of Action to Defend Education.” The march was in protest of the so-called “tax” — as professors and members of the UC and California State University system have labeled it — according towww.wsj.com. This was quite odd; during most large and unfair tax increases in our state, you generally don’t see an uproar from America’s most progressive public university system. But this tuition increase, which has been presented by the UC system as a $662 tax hike for college students according to www.wsj.com, has gotten their attention.
Apparently professors and students can’t understand the difference between a reduction in a state subsidy and an increase in taxes. Our state’s school system is one of the most heavily tax-payer funded systems in America. To put it another way, the tax-paying residents of California pay more for our public education than the residents of any other state.
When speaking about the university budget shortfalls, UC president Mark Yudof said, “You can protest. You can put up signs – at Berkeley they like to occupy the trees and run nude – but the answer is ‘I still don’t have the money,’” according to www.wsj.com.
This is a fair assessment by Yudof, who has tried to push the protest attention off himself and project it on the state legislature. But in reality, Sacramento doesn’t have the money either. Our state is facing a $20 billion budget shortfall. Unlike the federal government, which can keep printing more and more money as the value of the dollar continues to crumble, states must work with the budgets they have, or face cuts.
I do think there is something for UC and CSU students to learn from this; it might be what President Barack Obama
I've been hearing so much about budget cuts to public education in the news lately. Last week, there were demonstrations all over the Bay Area protesting the massive budget cuts to public colleges, and secondary and elementary schools throughout California. And these protests weren't just on the college campuses of Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Davis, but also at elementary and high schools with kids and parents expressing their outrage. It's particularly unsettling for me because our eldest daughter will be going to kindergarten next year and we've been touring the local schools. The constant drumbeat we hear from administrators, teachers, and parents is how painful it is to have to fire teachers, reduce or eliminate teachers' aides and specialists, scrap arts, language, and physical education programs, and increase class sizes.
Public education used to be the foundation of our country and a model for education all over the world. It was responsible for upward mobility, the establishment of the middle class, and the basis for financial security for the vast majority of our citizens. It was also the springboard to higher education, providing students with the information and skill sets they needed to succeed in college and beyond. In other words, it was the basis for the American Dream.
“The Ides of March is the name of March 15 in the Roman calendar. The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May, July and October. The Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Caesar was killed.”
Get the scoop on schools, teachers and students. Visit our Education pagefor more articles and photos."If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
I read these words on the back of hundreds of Montebello Unified School District teachers' T-shirts recently. They wore them on March 4 as they organized and rallied against state budget cuts to public education.
They were not alone. A day of passionate protest against these cuts attracted thousands of demonstrators from across the state and nation. They held rallies, walkouts, teach-ins and even funeral demonstrations to mourn the death of public education.
All of it was done in an effort to spark a movement to take us back to a time when education was not only valued, but was considered far more a right than a privilege.
With more than 30 years of experience in education, it is hard to pinpoint when the state's priorities shifted and when education was placed on the back burner.
Yet, $17 billion has already been taken away from California schools over the last two years, and it appears our state's leaders will not stop cutting unless more of us stand up and demand the state's budget no longer be balanced on the backs of our students.
MUSD is currently facing more than $50 million in budget cuts over the next three years. With nearly 90 percent of the district's budget being personnel, it is no secret that the district will be forced to make difficult decisions in order to remain fiscally solvent.
The message from the state is simple: Do more with less.
For two years, MUSD and other school districts from around the state have heard this message loud and clear.Unfortunately "keeping cuts away from the classroom" is not realistic when more than 16,000 teachers
There have been two features that regularly mark the history of U.S. public schools. Over the last century, our education system has been regularly captivated by a Big Idea -- a savant or an organization that promised a simple solution to the problems of our schools. The second is that there are no simple solutions, no miracle cures to those problems.
Education is a slow, arduous process that requires the work of willing students, dedicated teachers and supportive families, as well as a coherent curriculum.
As an education historian, I have often warned against the seductive lure of grand ideas to reform education. Our national infatuation with education fads and reforms distracts us from the steady work that must be done.
Our era is no different. We now face a wave of education reforms based on the belief that school choice, test-driven accountability and the resulting competition will dramatically improve student achievement.
Once again, I find myself sounding the alarm that the latest vision of education reform is deeply flawed. But this time my warning carries a personal rebuke. For much of the last two decades, I was among those who jumped aboard the choice and accountability bandwagon. Choice and accountability, I believed, would offer a chance for poor children to escape failing schools. Testing and accountability, I thought, would cast sunshine on low-performing schools and lead to improvement. It all seemed to make sense, even if there was little empirical evidence, just promise and hope.
Today there is empirical evidence, and it shows clearly that choice, competition and accountability as education reform levers are not working. But with confidence bordering
National Day of Action to Defend Public Education a Major Success |   Printer-Friendly E-Mail This | |
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| Mar 14, 2010 By Jesse Lessinger | ||
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The nation-wide protests of students and education workers against budget cuts to schools on March 4 was the most significant day of resistance to the economic downturn since the crisis erupted in 2008. It is an important harbinger of bigger struggles to come. The recession may be officially over but the crisis facing working people and youth is only getting worse. The layoffs and home foreclosures continue, while crucial social services are put on the chopping block. States all across the country face unprecedented declines in revenue. Public education has become one of the biggest targets for vicious budget cuts. The most severe deficit is in California, which faces a$20 billion shortfall for the coming fiscal year. This is on top of the massive cuts enacted this fiscal year after the state had to issue IUO's last summer when it ran out of money scrambling to pass an austerity budget. The cuts to higher education led to a faculty and student walkout in the University of California (UC) system on September 24 of last year. A state-wide conference in October, which brought together over 700 students, teachers, faculty and other activists, called for a state-wide “strike and day of action” on March 4 to defend public education. This conference also endorsed actions in mid-November to demonstrate against the plan for a massive 32% tuition hike. Across the UC system there were rallies and on some campuses students occupied buildings to protest the Board of Regents' vote to raise tuition. The occupations where met by repression of the police and administration against both the occupiers and their supporters who rallied outside. But these actions also brought national attention to the issues of cuts and other attacks on education, as well as the anger and growing resistance to these policies. March 4 Inspired by the events in California, students across the country put out a call to make March 4 a national day of action to defend public education. On March 4, in over 30 states from California to New | ||
Superintendent Arturo Delgado of the San Bernardino City Unified School District is scheduled to meet with staff today to explore the ramifications of 11 schools landing on California's list of the worst 5 percent in the state.
The California Department of Education started compiling the list after lawmakers, in an effort to make the state more competitive for federal grant money, passed legislation requiring the lowest-performing schools in California to close or go through one of three processes aimed at boosting student achievement.
The options are:
"Restart": Turning the school into a charter.
"Turnaround": Replacing the principal and at least half the teaching staff.
"Transformation": Replacing the principal, providing staff with ongoing education and rewarding effective teachers.
The charter school option is off the table in San Bernardino. So is shutting down schools.
"We know for certain the district is only considering the turnaround model and the transformation model," said Linda Bardere, spokeswoman for the district. "No decision has been made regarding which model each (of the)
