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Students Travel to Sacramento To Protest Proposed Budget Cuts
A caravan of buses from Berkeley, carrying students, parents and teachers, converged on the state capital Thursday to challenge proposed cuts of some $5 billion in education funds from this year’s state budget.
More than 500 Berkeley students participated in the school board sanctioned field trip, promoted as a civics lesson in lobbying government. They joined hundreds of other Bay Area students in Sacramento.
Hardest hit by the cuts will be teachers. In Berkeley, 217 teachers found pink slips in their mailboxes in March warning of possible dismissal, while popular programs, such as the Franklin after-school and district music programs, are slated to be reduced or eliminated. Board officials say 70 to 80 teachers will actually be laid-off once the budget is passed. In Oakland, nearly 1,000 teachers’ jobs are at stake.
"We need to get a completely new system of financing schools. We’re always reacting to crises," said Berkeley High School English teacher Tammy Harkins, who shepherded a group of 17 students through representatives’ offices where they spoke with legislative aides about what they saw as inequities in public financing.
Harkins, who herself received a pink slip, and Laura Lackey, a junior, wore homemade striped prison uniforms to connect the school cuts with raises for prison guards. Gov. Gray Davis’ proposed budget includes an additional $330 million for the Department of Corrections, while lopping at least 15 percent off current general education funds.
“If you spent the money on schools, couldn’t you save a lot on prisons?” Laura asked.
Nine buses took off from the Milvia Street sidewalk adjacent to the high school Thursday morning. Mayor Tom Bates was present, as was Sheila Jordan, county superintendent of schools. Jordan rode with the students. Bates, who did not make the trip, said he wanted to lend his support to the event.
Bates insisted that the state needed to raise income taxes to meet the current shortfall. He suggested that $4 billion could be obtained from vehicle license fees — funds which go directly to local governments. Davis has said he would not entertain any such bill, according to assistant director of the state Department of Finance, Anita Gore.
In Sacramento, the Berkeley contingent met with Assemblywoman and former Mayor Loni Hancock.
“You can’t cut $36 billion from a $72 billion dollar budget,” Hancock said. She said she would refuse to sign an inadequate compromise on education spending, even if it meant dragging out a resolution.
The rally crowd, estimated at 1,500 to 2,000, listened to speakers and teenage rap singers.
Rose Braz, director of Education Not Incarceration, said, “This rally is about connecting education and prisons. In polls, people have consistently said they want to reduce prison spending and restore education spending.”
“There are very few places to cut,” insisted Gore in an office interview. “Education is one. Health and human services is another.”
As to the viability of such tax options as the vehicle license tax, Gore said, “Governor Davis told legislators not to bring him those bills. He thought it would not be prudent at this time.”
There were reasons why certain budgets, such as for corrections, could not be cut, she said.
“It has to do with federal mandates and court orders, not to mention statutes in the constitution. There’s one for education, too. Prop 98. It gets 40 percent of the budget.”
Meanwhile, Harkins’ class swarmed in and out of offices to question aides and practice their lobbying skills. They wandered into the office of the Republican caucus, where they debated with a legislative aide for 45 minutes.
Harkins felt the day at the state capital presented an exceptional teaching opportunity for the students.
"It’s wonderful to show them you can lobby and take your case to the representatives,” she said. “They need to know that they can be that intern in a summer job. It was a great exercise in real citizenship.”