Vantage point: On the road again!
By:
CSBA President Jill Wynns
Published: October 22, 2012
Tom Torlakson, the state superintendent of public instruction, and I are in the midst of our monthlong media blitz tour of California, crisscrossing the state until a few days before Election Day. We met with the Los Angeles Times yesterday, and I was on “Which Way LA” on KCRW to discuss the funding crisis and why we at CSBA have endorsed, and are campaigning for, both Prop 30 and Prop 38. LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy was also on the program, and he explained that if neither tax initiative passes, LAUSD will need to cut $255 million at midyear and another $750 million next year. These are staggering numbers, beyond anyone’s comprehension.
At the Times, we discussed a new report from the superintendent’s Task Force on Educator Excellence (CSBA Assistant Executive Director of Policy and Programs Dr. Angelo Williams was a member). The task force issued detailed recommendations regarding teacher recruitment, retention, evaluations and professional development.
How is this related to our campaign for additional revenue? The work of improving the schools of our state continues, even in these times of financial disaster—but who can afford new investments in teachers when we’re cutting our budgets? How can we talk about career technical education programs, as we did today at Colton High School, when adult ed funds have been “flexed” into nonexistence?
We visited an ROP program at the high school where students were researching medical careers and considering which universities are best for the study of medical forensics or neurosurgery. In another class they were learning about food and nutrition, preparing for careers in the food industry. I even used my rusty algebra skills to help two wonderful students calculate the costs of various ingredients for their quiche recipe.
My role is to reinforce that we at CSBA, and our member school boards, are dedicated to continuing the work of reform and improvement and are desperate for additional funding for our schools. We celebrate successful programs, effective teachers and all our students. But we cannot continue to provide the services and programs that our students need without adequate funding. We must have additional taxes for schools in California.
And we are the ones who must make the difficult decisions to cut the very things that we know are needed, the very programs that we are promoting now. We will continue to speak for our communities, to tell the truth about what we can and cannot do with the funds provided by the Legislature and, in the current budget circumstances, make the heart-wrenching decisions that are forced upon us. We do the tough work; it is our responsibility. But first, we will spend the next month doing everything we can do to get the tax initiatives passed.