Calif. Teachers Unions, Parents Fearful Of More Education Cuts
November 18, 2009
Teachers unions and some parents are worried more cuts for California public schools could be on the way. They’re concerned an upcoming Legislative Analyst Office report on the state budget will show that California is facing another multi-billion dollar cash shortage.
California Teachers Association President David Sanchez says schools already have suffered $17-billion in cuts over the past two years. And, he says there’s nowhere else for lawmakers and the governor to slash spending.
“There’s no more meat on this bone to cut and the next step is amputation,” says Sanchez. “I mean, we’ve already lost 16,000 teachers. Losing your job in the field of education used to be unheard of, but that’s where we’re at.”
State lawmakers are debating bills that could help schools avoid at least some of the cuts. The measures would allow California to compete for more than $4 billion in new federal funding for schools by linking teacher’s salaries to the academic performance of students. That’s a priority for some education reformers.
But teachers say it’s unfair and would encourage them to flee underperforming districts for jobs at schools where students test well. Meanwhile, the teachers and parents are asking lawmakers to close tax loopholes for corporations so additional education funding will be available in the future.
Comments
Joshua // November 18, 2009 at 5:26 p.m. ― 2 months, 3 weeks ago
This government is an executive committee and armed weapon of the rich.
These are not democracy's schools. They’re capitalist schools, segregated by class and race. There are five or six tax-funded school systems in the US ranging from preparing kids for prisons, pre-Walmart academies, social worker prep, others readying youth for law and medicine. Some feed children to the military. Ruling class kids go to privates.
The capitalist government's project in schools is:
1) regimented curricula promoting nationalism,
2) racist anti-working class exams to limit knowledge and divide people using a false form of science,
3)merit pay,
4) militarization in some areas,
5) national service to divert opposition to a potential draft,
6) privatization (but not only privatization),
7) relentless promotion of fear in order to create loyal, obedient people willing to make war on other poor people in defense of the rich.
Hence the dual role of capitalist schooling as important markets for profiteering, sometimes contradicted by the real need for social control-- other times those factors meld into one.
The education agenda is a war agenda, a class war agenda.
Rather than “Defend Public Education,” we should “Rescue Education from the Ruling Class,” or “Defend Education for the Public.”
The core issue of our times is the promise of perpetual war coupled with booming color-coded inequality met by the potential of mass class-conscious resistance. Our project should aim at connecting reason, radical analysis, to power rooted in our own ability to take collective action.
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