A group of students is inviting all California lawmakers to spend a day in a public school so they better understand how their spending choices amid the state’s budget crisis are affecting education. Their parents, teachers and other supporters will carry the children’s handmade invitations to every legislator by running 140 miles day and night from San Carlos to Sacramento, where they will rally at the state capitol building at 12 p.m., Monday, May 17.
“If all the people in the state legislature came to a school for a whole day, it would help them make the right decisions about things that matter for our future,” said Lexi Davirro, 14, who is in eighth grade at the San Carlos Charter Learning Center. “We’re really hoping they will accept our invitations.”
Pam McGee is the mother of a sixth-grader at San Carlos Charter Learning Center. She said: “Many of the people determining education funding likely haven’t been in a public school recently. Lawmakers need to see firsthand the severe obstacles students and teachers face now and understand how this catastrophe will worsen if they cut funding further.”
The invitations and runners are coming from the San Carlos Charter Learning Center, California’s longest-serving public charter school, and the John Gill School, a public elementary school in Redwood City. They are inviting legislators to visit either of those two schools or go to one in their own district.
“We would like them to see how larger classes make it hard to learn and teach,” said Christopher Mahoney, Director of the San Carlos Charter Learning Center. “An up-close view of the safety and health hazards caused by crumbling buildings is important, too. They also need to look at the kinds of difficult choices that face principals every day.”
Just a few examples: Opting between science programs or a librarian; updated textbooks or music education. “At our school, the heat doesn’t always work and the roof is leaking. There have been times when we wouldn’t have had toilet paper if the students’ parents hadn’t donated it,” Mahoney said.
John Gill School Principal Amanda Kemp said: “We recognize lawmakers are struggling with the budget, but dedicating a day to a school is the only way they will truly know how to set their priorities.”
The run will start at Burton Park, 900 Chestnut St., San Carlos at 12 p.m., Saturday, May 15. Some lawmakers are expected to accept their invitations at the rally in Sacramento on Monday, May 17. The children, parents and teachers will fan out through the capitol to deliver the rest immediately following the event.
Besides carrying the children’s invitations to the lawmakers, the runners are raising funds for the San Carlos Charter Learning Center and the John Gill School. The San Carlos Charter Learning Center must bring in $250,000 to avoid cutting programs and services during the next school year. The John Gill School needs to raise funds to retain its physical education program and social workers.
This is the second year in a row that parents and educators have made the non-stop trek from San Carlos to Sacramento on behalf of California’s public schools. In 2009, runners from the San Carlos Charter Learning Center finished their journey with a rally the day before the May vote on propositions affecting education funding.
“With the John Gill School joining in this year and more runners already signed up to participate, we will be taking to the streets in an even bigger way,” said Mahoney.
The San Carlos Charter Learning Center, which opened in 1994, is a public K-8 school located at 750 Dartmouth Ave., San Carlos. The John Gill School, at 555 Avenue Del Ora, Redwood City, is a public school serving children from kindergarten to fifth grade.
No matter where you live, write your congressmen and invite them to visit your local public schools so they can see first hand what is happening in your local public schools!
Christopher Mahoney
Director, San Carlos Charter Learning Center
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