How to Advocate for Funding for Public Schools

Recently I feel like I am seeing the widening of the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots.” Last week parents in San Bruno were out on El Camino waving signs and gathering at City Hall to protest cuts to education. I called my friend in Palo Alto to ask if she was going out to protest and she didn’t know what I was talking about. Then I called a friend in Burlingame to see if she was going out. She didn’t know what I was talking about either. I thought since the budget cuts are going to be statewide it would affect all districts equally but apparently it doesn’t.

I was at the California Association for the Gifted Conference in Sacramento this weekend and I purposefully attended two workshops with a woman named Teri Burns. She is the Director of Legislative Advocacy at School Innovations and Advocacy. I wanted to understand what is going on with the California budget and I wanted to understand what the vehicles are for effective action.

Ms. Burns explained that there are statewide cuts of about $225 per student in the new budget but the cuts come from a pot of flexible-spending money. Districts can choose how they want to cover that shortfall. Many districts are in danger of losing their GATE programs. San Bruno wants to lay off teachers, eliminate class size reduction, close our school library, eliminate PE, and eliminate art. It was eye opening to realize that we don’t have to eliminate class size reduction. Yes, we only have so much money to spend but there has not been a statewide declaration that class size reduction will end now. It is our district’s choice.

To be fair, Ms. Burns pointed out that the Governor still owes the schools money from 2005 so for years now the school districts have been cutting back and cutting back and for some, there is nothing left to cut. Some districts like Palo Alto and Burlingame raise a lot of money from their community education funds. I surmise that they must be planning to reroute some of this money to cover the budget shortfall and thus continue with class-size reduction and many of their other programs like PE, music, and library. My friend in Palo Alto was asked to give $700 this year to the community education fund. In San Bruno we were asked to give $100. That leaves the communities with very different amounts of money to use in situations like this.

The schools are owed $11.2 billion dollars in outstanding Prop 98 balances from 2005-2006 to 2008-2009. The Governor would like to continue to ignore the repayment schedule for this money by deferring the first year obligation until 2012-2013. This will actually require a change in existing law and this is where parents and teachers need to come in. We need to let our legislators know that we do not support changing the law. This is the worst economic time for our schools in a long time. Schools have kept up their end of the bargain with the Governor and it is now time for him to pay up.

Ms. Burns closed her session by saying that people involved in education are often fair and accommodating. This, however, is not getting us very far on the political scene. She said we should have “righteous indignation” about the fact that our schools have not been paid. She gave a valuable lesson about how to get one’s voice heard and advocate for our schools. I want to share her information with all parents in the area so that we can effectively let the legislators know how we feel about this subject and hopefully make the voice of education louder so that when it comes down to a vote, schools get their due. Please come to a workshop Thursday, April 8 at 6:30 PM at the Franco Real Estate Group Offices at San Bruno Towne Center, 1230-A El Camino Real, San Bruno. We need to come together and work to close the gap.

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For up to date information on education issues, visit http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/main.aspx Click on “subject areas” and then click on K-12 education. This website is maintained by the legislative analyst’s office and is meant and is meant to help lawmakers stay up to date on current issues. The general public can use it to stay informed as well.