Apologies in advance for any inconvenience this downtime may cause, but I’m sure that you’ll agree that the new site will be worth the wait.
–Douglas Bell, 17th District Webmaster

Speak Up for Children and Families

Your help is needed to get the message to state leaders

1) Call your Assembly member, State Senator, and the Governor today to tell them to protect funding for education and critical services for children and families.

Find Your Legislators
Contact the Governor

Sample message:

My name is (your name) from (name of your city). My children attend (names of your childrens’ schools), and I urge (Senator X, Assembly member X, the Governor) to protect funding for education by not suspending Proposition 98.

We must also protect critical programs for children and families such as Healthy Families, CalWORKs and Cal Grants. I strongly believe that we must invest in our children to protect their future and the future of our state.

2) Send letters to the editor at your local newspaper about what is happening in your school as a result of the devastating statewide cuts to education.

For more information on how to submit a letter to the editor and a listing of local newspapers contacts, please visit the “Letters to the Editor” tab on the Education Coalition’s “Protect Our Students” website.

Don’t forget to check your local newspaper for word-count limits, and please remember to include your name, home address and phone number!

San Mateo County newspapers include the San Mateo County Times and the San Mateo Daily Journal.

Background

State budget negotiations continue in Sacramento, and education and children’s services continue to face the threat of drastic cuts.

Recently, the Governor proposed suspending Proposition 98, the voter-approved Constitutional funding guarantee for K-12 education and community colleges. California State PTA opposes suspending the funding guarantee.

The Governor’s proposal would not only result in even deeper cuts to education in 2009-10, but would lower that funding guarantee in future years. Our students in communities throughout California are already suffering from the impact of billions of dollars in state budget cuts that have been enacted.

We also continue to strongly oppose the proposed elimination or deep cuts to vital programs for children, families and students such as CalWORKs, Healthy Families and Cal Grants. These programs serve hundreds of thousands of children and students. It is shameful that any state leader in 2009 would even consider eliminating them, especially when our state receives matching dollars from the federal government for operating some of them.

The Governor and legislators say the state budget crisis is so bad that we have no choice but to severely cut education and health and welfare services for kids.

They are wrong!

A budget is a reflection of our values. We value the future of our children and the future of California – and we cannot support any budget plan that drastically shortchanges our children or our future.

California State PTA:

• Supports a balanced approach to solving the state budget deficit, one that includes some additional revenues to prevent even deeper cuts to children’s education programs and services.
• Opposes the Governor’s proposal to suspend Proposition 98.
• Supports full funding for Healthy Families, CalWORKs and Cal Grants – essential programs that promote the health and well-being of children, students and families in California.

To read the California Budget Project’s July 2 analysis of the Governor’s budget proposals, click here.

For more information, go to www.capta.org.

The Education Coalition strongly opposes Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal announced yesterday to suspend Prop. 98, the state’s minimum school funding law, so that he can make deeper cuts to education on top of the $11.6 billion already enacted.

Time and again, Californians have voted to protect Prop. 98 and have overwhelmingly rejected any attempts to undermine the law. Public polls show that voters continue to support increasing funding to our schools, saying it is the last place they want state leaders to cut. And yet, lawmakers have subjected education funding to 60 percent of the cuts made to the state budget. Though there have been many attempts to undermine Prop. 98 over the years, education funding continues to grow at a much slower pace than most other areas of the budget.

Quite, simply, Prop. 98 is not the problem – it’s time for lawmakers to take a balanced approach to solving the state’s budget crisis, instead of shortchanging an entire generation of students of the quality education they deserve.

With public schools already taking the worst funding hit since the Great Depression, the Education Coalition maintains that public schools simply cannot sustain any further cuts, and also supports schools being repaid the funding they are owed under Prop. 98.

Suspending Prop. 98 would further drain basic resources from schools that have already been forced to increase class sizes, cut programs critical to student learning, cancel bus routes and eliminate summer school programs, as well as librarians, counselors and arts and music classes.

California’s students – who already live in a state that ranks 47th in the nation in per-pupil spending – have been subjected to historic, unprecedented cuts. The devastation of these cuts is not only lost jobs right now, but deep, lasting damage to the ability of our children and the state to compete and succeed in the future.

The Education Coalition represents more than 2.5 million teachers, parents, administrators, school board members, school employees and other education advocates in California. For more information, please visit our website at: www.protectourstudents.org.

17th District is excited to welcome Colette Rudd as our next president through June 2011, we want to wish her and the new Board of Managers an exciting and successful term. She succeeds Deborah Kemper, who has done an outstanding job as 17th District President since her term began in July 2007.

17th District will be well-represented on the California State PTA Board of Managers as well. Kathryn Cross will continue to serve on the State PTA Communications Commission as editor of The Communicator and will continue to be on the State PTA Bylaws Committee, in addition to taking on the duties of being Parliamentarian here at 17th District. Deborah Kemper will serve on State PTA’s new Membership Commission, and will also chair State PTA’s new Diversity and Inclusion Committee, in addition to becoming the new Legislation Coordinator here at 17th District. Past 17th District President Colleen You will be the State Vice President of Health this term, transitioning from her previous role as State Vice President of Parent Involvement. And of course, President Colette Rudd will represent 17th District in the District Presidents Committee.

A reminder to all PTA officers that you should also be transitioning and passing on your information and books to your successors as well, if you have not already done so. PTA does not drop off the face of the map during summer; this is the time for incoming boards to meet and plan for the upcoming school year, including preparing a calendar and budget. Auditors should begin preparing the year-end audit for the period January 1-June 30, 2009.

We wish all of you a successful term, and thanks for your commitment to PTA!

They are wrong!

Please e-mail your legislators.

Remind them that their obligation to all of California’s children does not stop when times get tough.

A budget is a reflection of our values. We value the future of our children and the future of California. We understand cuts to education programs will be enacted as part of a budget deficit solution. But the cuts currently being considered are far too deep and will shortchange an entire generation.

To read California State PTA President Pam Brady’s statement on the budget negotiations, click here.

Please call or e-mail your state Assembly member, state Senator and the Governor right away and deliver the following messages:

• Support a balanced budget approach that includes some additional revenues to prevent even deeper cuts to children’s education programs and services.
• Support full funding for Healthy Families, CalWORKs and Cal Grants – essential programs that support the health and well-being of children, students and families.

Find Your Legislators | Contact the Governor

The Governor and all legislators need to continue to hear directly from parents and PTAs about the devastating impact that cuts proposed in the state budget will have on children. We know many of you have been contacting legislators; it is vital to remind them that PTAs throughout the state and all parents are watching their actions closely.

“The latest budget proposals put forward by the Governor and the legislative conference committee still fail the basic test of good government: They do not reflect the values of our communities, and they do not put our children first. The magnitude of cuts included in these budget proposals will shortchange an entire generation of students. And today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce. Our state’s economic health in the future depends on the level of support we provide in our classrooms now.

“Legislative leaders who crafted the conference committee plan should be acknowledged for their efforts to take a more balanced approach than the Governor to solving the state’s current budget deficit. The conference committee plan, which did not pass out of the Senate or Assembly yesterday, would have generated some additional revenues to help mitigate cuts and to save essential programs that the Governor proposed to eliminate entirely, such as Healthy Families, CalWORKs and Cal Grants. These programs serve hundreds of thousands of children and students. It is shameful that any state leader in 2009 would even consider eliminating them, especially when our state receives matching dollars from the federal government for operating some of them.”

Education cuts still too deep

“The conference committee plan proposes about $680 million less in cuts to education programs than the Governor’s plan. The conference committee plan also took an important step by recognizing that cuts made to schools in the past two years must be repaid in future years when the economy improves. Again, we acknowledge the efforts of legislative leaders to try to cushion the impact of even deeper cuts on our schoolchildren. In this difficult budget situation, some additional cuts to education will be enacted, but the more than $5 billion in additional cuts proposed for this year and next is still too deep. These cuts come on top of more than $11 billion that has already been cut from schools.

“Children in our classrooms right now deserve better. At a time when students need more access than ever to quality programs and services so they can succeed in the future and help California thrive, we cannot pull the rug out from under them.

“A grave political climate currently exists in Sacramento: The super-majority vote needed to raise additional revenues to offset some of these deep cuts is extremely difficult to achieve. However, as the voice on behalf of nearly 1 million volunteer members and on behalf of more than 6 million children in the state, we cannot support any budget plan that drastically shortchanges children, just because it may be the ‘best that can be hoped for politically.’

California must stand for big visions and big dreams. We urge legislators and the Governor to put children first in their deliberations.

The California State PTA has nearly 1 million members throughout the state working on behalf of public schools, children and families, with the motto, “Every child, one voice.” The PTA is the nation’s oldest, largest and highest profile volunteer organization working to improve the education, health and welfare of all children and youth. The PTA also advocates at national, state and local levels for education and family issues. The PTA is nonprofit, nonsectarian and noncommercial.

For more information about the California State PTA, visit www.capta.org.

Training will be provided for the following positions:

• President, Executive VP
• Secretary
• Treasurer, Financial Secretary
• Auditor
• Historian
• Parliamentarian
• Reflections Program Chairman
• Legislation Coordinator
• Membership Chairman (tentative)

The event will start at 6:30 with sandwiches and treats and a short keynote address from 17th District PTA president Deborah Kemper about PTA and legislation, and then groups will break out for training. The event should and around 8:30 or 9:00 PM. The training will be held at the San Mateo-Foster City School District Office, 1170 Chess Drive, Foster City (a map is posted below). Please RSVP to Kathryn Cross, San Mateo-Foster City Council President, preferably by June 25th, and provide your name, officer position, and school. Download the Flyer [PDF]

Governor Schwarzenegger addressed the California State Legislature today in an attempt to garner support for his plan to make further devastating cuts to our public schools, but education advocates yesterday spelled out the disastrous consequences of those cuts to our students. Hundreds of concerned parents, teachers, bus drivers, custodians, administrators, school board members and other concerned citizens lined up to give testimony for hours at the legislative committee hearing on the budget.

Douglas Bell, a San Mateo student, who graduated only three days ago, asked the Governor not to take away the resources students need to succeed. “Students are the future of California – please don’t undermine our education,” he said.

Representatives from the PTA also expressed their concerns. Laura Kieffer, a council president of the PTA from South Pasadena PTA schools have lost class size reduction programs, librarians, art and music classes, summer school classes and many other programs that help student achievement.

“The cut-backs in transportation mean that students in rural areas can’t get to school,” said Rebecca Scheel, a school bus driver from Gilroy. Richard Romero, a custodian from Fresno, said he’s worried about student health as cleaning crew cutbacks leave more germs and bugs circulating in classrooms for longer periods of time. Norma Pyle, a school employee from Sacramento, also expressed concern that adult supervision on school campuses is at an all-time low, including cutbacks in the campus safety monitors who prevent intruders from gaining access to school campuses.

Mike Bustos, a math teacher from Sacramento, said that with increasing class sizes, it is increasingly difficult to help students struggling to learn basic skills. “We simply can’t keep depleting resources from our students and expect them to learn. It’s time to make an investment in our future.”

“The entire music program in my school has been terminated,” said Art McGaw, a music teacher from Millbrae. “That means 400 music students no longer have the option of music education. These are the very classes that promote creative and abstract thinking – how can our leaders be so shortsighted?”

Representatives from community colleges also talked about the fact that the increasing cost of higher education is placing a college degree out of reach for many students. School board members and administrators spoke about the terrible decisions they must face as school budgets are obliterated by the lack of state funding.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s May Revision proposal includes more than $6 billion in additional cuts. These devastating cuts come on top of the $11.6 billion in cuts already enacted. That means that California’s students, who already live in a state that ranks 47th in the nation in per-pupil spending, will be subjected to cuts totaling $3,000 per student, wiping out programs that help student achievement and robbing an entire generation of the quality education they deserve. (Not to mention moving California toward the dubious ranking of dead- last in the nation in per-pupil funding.)

The Education Coalition remains committed to finding long-term solutions to the chronic underfunding of our public schools, and to addressing the needs of all students. Increased revenues must be part of the solution, including majority-vote fee increases and local revenue raising authority. In addition to looking at program reductions, the Legislature needs to review and reduce tax expenditures including the new tax breaks that were approved just this past year.

We strive to create a public school system where students can thrive in small class sizes with up-to-date textbooks and state-of-the-art technology, in schools with updated facilities. We want them to work with educators who have access to ongoing training and mentoring to ensure that they are able to do the best job possible of motivating our students to learn. We hope to create a prevailing and contagious outlook that all students deserve a chance to succeed, with the financial resources to make it happen.

The Education Coalition represents more than 2.5 million teachers, parents, administrators, school board members, school employees and other education advocates in California. For more information, please visit our website at: www.protectourstudents.org.

Feel free to use statements from the letter to write to your legislative leaders.

The conference committee session, dedicated to the Governor’s May Revision proposals for education and child care, drew dozens of people to speak, including PTA leaders and students from throughout the state.

We especially want to thank PTA representatives from Chowchilla and Bass Lake (Eleventh District), San Mateo (Seventeenth District PTA), Plumas Lakes and Placer County (Third District), South Pasadena (First District), Pittsburg (Thirty-Second District) and Paso Robles (Twenty-Fourth District).

TV coverage of the hearing featured California State PTA volunteer members. To watch, click here.

June 1, 2009

The Honorable Noreen Evans, Chair
Legislative Conference Committee on the Budget
State Capitol Room 6026
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Chairwoman Evans,

The state’s current fiscal crisis has led the Governor to propose additional, drastic cuts to education and children’s services. But how deep those cuts are, and how permanent, is up to you and members of the Legislature.

On behalf of our nearly 1 million volunteer members – and on behalf of every child in the state – the California State PTA urges you to reject the Governor’s proposed “cuts only” state budget solution and to adopt a budget plan that includes additional revenues to mitigate the severity of cuts that will be made.

Our state’s economic future depends on a healthy, well-educated workforce. And the California dream – a dream we all share and that built this state – calls for every child to have true opportunities to succeed in school, at work and in life. That dream is in grave danger. Already more than $11 billion have been cut from schools in this past year. Approximately $6 billion in additional cuts have been proposed by the Governor. These cuts will impact our children in very real ways: Students will have fewer teachers, counselors and courses to choose from; students will be in larger classes and have less up-to-date materials and technology to help them learn; and they will have few or no programs like summer school to support them if they are struggling.

At a time when we need to prepare every student for the challenges of the 21st century global economy, the Governor’s proposal would slash school funding to the point where an entire generation of students will be dramatically shortchanged. Cuts of this magnitude will restrict opportunities and reverse the slow and steady progress being made in many of our schools and communities. Equally alarming, the Governor has proposed to completely wipe out critical programs like Healthy Families and CalWORKs, which help keep more children healthy and prepared to succeed.

We understand the magnitude of the state’s current fiscal crisis. It is unprecedented. And we recognize that legislators and the Governor crafted an agreement in February that attempted to balance some of the deepest cuts with additional, temporary revenues. However, in the aftermath of the May 19 election, our state’s leaders must work even harder to come up with a responsible, compromise plan. Every creative way possible must be examined to close loopholes or generate revenues that reduce the damage of cuts to children.
We urge you and the Legislative Conference Committee to reject the notion of a cuts-only budget as one that is irresponsible, and one that will do irreparable harm to this generation of children.

We cannot compromise the future of our state or our core values without doing everything in our power to prevent it.

Sincerely,

Pam Brady, President
California State PTA

Cc: All members of the Legislative Conference Committee on the Budget
All members of the Legislature

This article was reprinted from a June 2nd Legislative Alert from the California State PTA. Subscribe to these alerts here.