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Community Corner

Liu and Portantino Among Legislators Rallying for Students

Speaking at a rally and forum this weekend for San Gabriel Educators and residents, solutions seem as sparse as parents in the audience.

State Senator Carol Liu and Assemblymember Anthony Portantino, both D-La Cañada Flintridge, joined federal and state legislators  over the weekend to discuss the effects of statewide budget cuts on local schools. 

Seated in the front rows of the Glendale High School audtiorium, an audience of educators and administrators noticeably lacked students and parents. Ron Bennett, President and CEO of School Services of California, opened the forum by noting that attendees did not include even one city council member from San Gabriel communities.

Citing the statistic that California schools now rank 46th in per-student spending nationally, Bennett noted that K-12 education takes up 40 percent of the state budget yet took a 60 percent budget cut.  

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Bennett also noted that many of the budget shortfalls could be traced back to the 1978 passage of Proposition 13--which changed the way property values could be assessed and shifted the tax structure--and to Proposition 98 in 1979, which transferred the bulk of educational funding to state sources. 

“Before Prop 13, California was in the top 10 for student spending,“ Bennett said, “Prop 13 moved California to the bottom 10.”

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Bennett also acknowledged the severity of the economic depression the state and country have been facing in recent years. “Never have legislators had to deal with a bigger problem,” he said, noting that “so many difficult choices have to be made over and over again.”

Some of the problems resulting from the budget shortfall were illustrated by personal stories of students and teachers. Tom Grund, a retiring math teacher from the Charter Oak School, talked of how his classes kept growing in size while his funding shrank. “During final exams, we ran out of paper,” he said. 

“The master plan doesn’t start with making kids pay for all the poor decisions we’ve made as adults.” Grund said.

Student speakers added their own experiences to the testimony, citing loss of classes and extracurriculars, their perceived failure of the No Child Left Behind Policy and that fact that budget cuts have resulted in actions by schools that seriously hinder students ability to meet requirements for graduation and acceptance to state universities, including enrollment in foreign language and advanced placement classes.

Congressman Adam Schiff, State Senators Carol Lie and Ed Hernandez, as well as Assemblymembers Mike Eng, Roger Hernandez and Anthony Portantino, stressed the need to support Gov. Jerry Brown and the tough choices he is being forced to make.

All legislators referred to Brown’s initiative to extend a spring ballot to voters that would allow an extension of current taxes for three to five more years. While not adding taxes, the extension, if passed, could stave off an even more drastic cut to the education budget. Currently, state funding for schools is backed by federal funding, which has also shrunk due to the state of the nation’s economy.

“He’s [Brown] going to empower the voter to make the decision,” Portantino said. “Do we want to extend the temporary revenues for the next five years that will bring the stability? I think the voters will make the right decision”

Liu spoke briefly and highlighted her support for “brave folks who are putting their careers on the line to come up with a budget.” She also stated that in terms of funding, “education has given up a lot over a long period of time.” Regarding the Governor’s ballot initiative,  Liu felt that “things are going along pretty good” and that “conversation is moving along.” She did note, however, “there wasn’t any action on the assembly side. Maybe they will follow along.”

Portantino also pointed to the need to break red tape barriers for concurrent community college and high school enrollment, which would make it easier for students to receive credit for classes taken outside of the high school classroom. “It’s more cost effective to send a student to a community college than to reinvent the high school program,” he said. 

Scott Slovkin, Vice President of the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association, felt that the rally and program was “good” but there “weren’t enough parents and kids present. To win, we need to engage parents and kids.” Slovkin encourages community members to speak out and call Republican legislators to ask them to support Governor Brown’s ballot imitative.

No Republican representatives were present at the rally.

“We all have to work hard,” Portantino said. “It’s the role of the activist to make us do better.” He then gave out his home phone number and invited calls. “It rings in my kitchen.”

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