Education advocates are turning up the heat on Schwarzenegger
CITY HALL — Santa Monica parents, students and school representatives have begun a counterattack to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education cuts.
More than 100 local public education advocates joined thousands more from across California on Wednesday, demanding Schwarzenegger restore Proposition 98 funding and make the failing public school system a top priority. Two coach buses departed from the Civic Center for the two-day rally entitled “Caravan for Kids,” which included a pit stop at Schwarzenegger’s office in Los Angeles Wednesday, to be followed by a planned statewide protest on the Capitol steps in Sacramento today.
Santa Monica public education advocacy groups — such as the Community for Excellent Public Schools and the Santa Monica-Malibu PTA — sponsored the local event and have been an integral part in organizing the statewide effort, organizers said.
A recent report published by the RAND Corp., a Santa Monica-based international think tank, said California’s K-12 school system has fallen from its position as the national leader it was 30 years ago to near the bottom of the rankings, above just Mississippi and Louisiana. CEPS member Rebecca Kennerly said after the local school district earlier this month secured an annual $6 million contribution from the Santa Monica City Council for the next five years — to offset the local impact from the state budget crisis — CEPS members have begun to focus their attention on the statewide educational financing crisis.
“We recognize funding the schools is not supposed to be a local responsibility,” Kennerly said. “This is an issue that needs to be taken up at the state level.”
“Caravan for Kids” organizers said they hope their efforts will prompt Schwarzenegger to make good on a promise made last year to increase public educational funding, protect Proposition 98 school money and develop a 10-year plan to restore the greatness California’s schools once enjoyed.
Calls to Schwarzenegger’s office seeking comment on the state’s public school budget were not returned.
Despite the $6 million annual subsidy, plus many more millions in other funding each year by City Hall, local school officials have said that four years of educational budget cuts on the state level have cost local schools nearly $9 million in lost services and personnel, resulting in a reduction of administrators, staff, faculty, and the support for programs. Event organizers said the problem is worse for schools without local support.
Maria Rodriguez, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu PTA Council, said her group has done everything it can to drum up local support, and that the PTA has a responsibility to all children in the state of California — many of whom belong to schools that have not had the same level of local support as the Santa Monica-Malibu school system.
“Santa Monica has initiated this movement statewide,” Rodriguez said. “It used to be enough to bake cookies and throw a carnival. Right now, we’re raising millions of dollars and it’s still not enough to support our schools. We’re just covering the basics, and that’s not enough. We want excellent public education in California again.”
Rodriguez said the California PTA has typically shied away from political issues, but the continuing crisis of public education has prompted its members to act.
“We are one million strong in California, and we’re going to show our power,” Rodriguez said.
Kathy Stanton, a West Los Angeles resident participating in the rally, said she and her husband attended public schools growing up and would prefer to put their 6-year-old son in public schools, but they are not good enough.
“I would love to be able to put our son in the public schools,” Stanton said. “It is more diverse, not as much of a filtered experience. The problem is, I hear kids don’t even get textbooks in some schools these days.
“What happens to all of these students whose parents can’t afford to pay for the private schools?”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 28, 2005. Read the original PDF.