SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL

Area educators rally against governor's education cuts

February 9, 2008

J.M. BROWN
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER

Dan Richey is worried the seventh- and eighth-graders in his social studies class at San Lorenzo Valley Middle School will be crowded out of a better education if lawmakers surrender to the governor's plan to drastically cut school funding.

If Proposition 98 -- a minimum-funding formula for education passed by voters 20 years ago -- is suspended as the governor proposes, Richey said his class size will increase.

"The more you can deal with individual students, the more personalized learning is," Richey said. "The last of couple years, things have been looking up a bit, but now that's vanishing in an instant."

Richey joined three dozen other teachers, parents and school board members for a rally Friday at the Town Clock to oppose Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to cut $4.4 billion from K-12 by July 2009. The governor says the trims are needed to reduce a projected $14 billion state deficit.

School districts countywide are awaiting a Sacramento compromise, but are identifying potential cutbacks. They are legally required to send notices of potential layoffs by March 15.

Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, who chairs the Budget Committee, said he and Republican lawmakers are close to reaching an agreement to replace some proposed slashing with revenue jolts. He said he hopes to avoid "significant K-12 cuts" through July, but warned suspending Prop. 98 is still a real possibility for next fiscal year.

"The governor is looking for middle ground," Laird said before addressing the crowd. "The question is: Can we get everyone to be willing to do that?"

Janet Swann, mother of two boys who attend Mission Hill Middle and Santa Cruz High, said, "School budgets are already down to a shoestring" for supplies and personnel. Having bigger class sizes will only threaten academic achievement, she said, between shouts of "2-4-6-8, fully fund Prop. 98."

"Losing teachers is the most devastating thing," she said. "They're wonderful. They just want to do what's best."

Susan Midori-Jones, California Teachers Association consultant, helped to organize the rally as a way to encourage people to "start leaning on the Legislature," she said. "We're not hearing to many viable solutions coming out of there."