Educators Begin 'State of Emergency' Week

This week, the California Teachers declared a "state of emergency" for national education, in protests and rallies scheduled across the state demanding lawmakers pass the tax increase and to prevent further budget cuts.

 East Bay school districts to show their support to local demonstrations throughout the week, culminating in a rally in Civic Center in San Francisco on Friday, May 13 at 5 pm

"I've been in education all his adult life, so more than 40 years and I have seen many crises," said Sheila Jordan, head of Alameda County Office of Education. "I've never seen the kind of attacks on public education that we are seeing now."

East Bay schools experienced teacher layoffs and budget cuts in all directions in the past few years. In addition, general purpose funding for each school district receives per student will gradually decrease.

 School districts in Alameda County have lost an average of $ 259.39 per student in general, public funding between 2005-06 and 2009-10. During the same period, Contra Costa County school districts saw an average cut $ 167.39 per student in general state funding.

This is the first year of California Teachers Association organized a "national emergency" week, caused $ 20 billion in reductions to public education over the past three years. If the tax increase fails, it could mean a further $ 4 billion, has fallen from public education, in accordance with the proposal of the Office of the state legislative analyst.

 "The script is so bad that we can not say what will happen," said Jordan. "There will not be enough chairs, not enough teachers, layoffs will be so significant that it would make a farce of public education."

Office of the Legislative Analyst says that balance the state budget will require the suspension of Proposition 98, which guarantees a minimum funding for schools and allows adjustment for inflation and the increase in students. The result will be a reduction of more than $ 700 per student.

School districts in the East Bay do not know how to prepare for such a strike. After years of successive cropping, even $ 700 per student is not possible, according to Jordan.

Alameda County Office of Education, but did not ask districts to prepare for a cut of $ 349 per student if the tax increase did not pass. Contra Costa County Office of Education advised to prepare for cuts of $ 650 per student.

 "To try to make additional cuts just will not happen," said Jordan. "You'd have to have structural changes."

In this case, many districts would consider reducing the school year, said Jordan.

Nearly 300 activists from the California Teachers Association would "sit in" at the Capitol this week, hoping to attract the attention of legislators to the "free services" through the transfer of tax extensions, reported at TCU.

"Schools have taken a disproportionate amount of cuts that the governor and the legislature have taken to date," said Michael Hulsizer of California, County Executives Educational Services Association (CCSESA). "Since 2009, the school was about 60 percent of the cuts that were actually implemented. Public education is 30 percent state general fund."

 Schools throughout California lost an average of at least 10 percent of their teachers with 2008-09, according to Hulsizer.