Education: State of Emergency- Mobilize!

Rhee the Reformer-Erase to the top!

Michele Rhee ( of Sacramento) continues her assaults on teachers

Though all modern presidents like to think of themselves as leading the national education debate, they rarely are; most important decisions are made at the state, mayoral, or school-board level. But if this decentralized uprising can be said to have a leader, it is the youthful, tough-talking, and telegenic Michelle Rhee. Four years ago, Rhee was chosen to run Washington, D.C.’s troubled school district by a young Democratic mayor, Adrian Fenty. She resigned just as abruptly this past fall, after Fenty was thrown out of office. But while Rhee’s head-cracking, heresy-spouting attempt to revamp the school system was a major contributor to Fenty’s electoral defeat, she left in a blaze of martyrdom, reveling in the extravagant admiration of national ­opinion-makers, as well as her commanding role in the polemical pro-charter-school documentary Waiting for “Superman.”

Over the past few months, rather than taking another municipal gig, Rhee has been campaigning through flash-point states, like a sort of wonky Che Guevara, lending celebrity, credibility, and covering fire to political leaders who endorse her vision of school reform. Last week, she was touring Ohio, as Governor John Kasich, a big fan of Waiting for “Superman,” promised “more choice, more accountability, more dollars in the classroom instead of bureaucracy.” The week prior, she was in Tennessee and Michigan; before that, she testified on Scott’s behalf before the Florida Legislature, where she was hailed as a “movie star.” At each stop, Rhee promotes her platform: expanding charter schools; connecting teacher pay to performance; revamping a pension-and-benefit system that “ends up excessively rewarding longevity”; ending tenure and seniority-based layoffs.

The traditional, patronizing view of teachers, that they are to be treated like saints and paid as if they’d taken a vow of poverty, has lately gone through a schizophrenic inversion. Open the newspaper most any day and you’ll read about “bad teachers” who are holding children back and, through their unions, conspiring to remain well compensated. In a remarkably short time, this view has become popular across partisan lines. Each political party filters it through its own core beliefs: Republicans fixate on the stresses that greedy unions are placing on budgets through their pay, pensions, and benefits; Democrats argue that putting better teachers in troubled schools is a matter of social justice. But they are using much the same language—and rallying around a radical change in how this country thinks about public education.

On Thursday, March 10, Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal justifying the bill his party had rammed through the State Senate the night before. He wrote that he wanted to do away with a “union-controlled hiring and firing process,” installing one of his own that his enemies say aims to remove veteran teachers from the classroom. The same morning, in New York, the Daily News published a column repeating many of Walker’s arguments—this one under the byline of Newark mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat. Some teachers “aren’t measuring up,” Booker wrote, “and ought to find another line of work.”

Such ruthlessness toward a profession that has been idealized for generations might seem an unlikely basis for a popular movement, but Education Secretary Arne Duncan is onboard, as is President Obama, who in this year’s State of the Union address said, “We want to reward good teachers and stop making excuses for bad ones.” So is Rupert Murdoch, who wrote a Journal op-ed of his own last fall suggesting that teachers are held to lesser standards than American Idol contestants. A few weeks ago in Providence, a Democratic mayor fired his city’s entire workforce of teachers, saying they will have to reapply so he can choose the most skilled. Legislators in Tennessee and Indiana are considering bills modeled after Wisconsin’s. Chris Christie has made himself into a New Jersey folk hero by attacking teachers as welfare queens. Florida governor Rick Scott is preparing to sign a bill abolishing tenure. Here in New York, Mayor Bloomberg is battling Governor Cuomo over the proposed repeal of a law mandating that layoffs be conducted by seniority, the “last in, first out” policy.

Though all modern presidents like to think of themselves as leading the national education debate, they rarely are; most important decisions are made at the state, mayoral, or school-board level. But if this decentralized uprising can be said to have a leader, it is the youthful, tough-talking, and telegenic Michelle Rhee. Four years ago, Rhee was chosen to run Washington, D.C.’s troubled school district by a young Democratic mayor, Adrian Fenty. She resigned just as abruptly this past fall, after Fenty was thrown out of office. But while Rhee’s head-cracking, heresy-spouting attempt to revamp the school system was a major contributor to Fenty’s electoral defeat, she left in a blaze of martyrdom, reveling in the extravagant admiration of national ­opinion-makers, as well as her commanding role in the polemical pro-charter-school documentary Waiting for “Superman.”

Over the past few months, rather than taking another municipal gig, Rhee has been campaigning through flash-point states, like a sort of wonky Che Guevara, lending celebrity, credibility, and covering fire to political leaders who endorse her vision of school reform. Last week, she was touring Ohio, as Governor John Kasich, a big fan of Waiting for “Superman,” promised “more choice, more accountability, more dollars in the classroom instead of bureaucracy.” The week prior, she was in Tennessee and Michigan; before that, she testified on Scott’s behalf before the Florida Legislature, where she was hailed as a “movie star.” At each stop, Rhee promotes her platform: expanding charter schools; connecting teacher pay to performance; revamping a pension-and-benefit system that “ends up excessively rewarding longevity”; ending tenure and seniority-based layoffs.

Considered alone, each of these proposals would be controversial, and anathema to the teachers unions; taken together, they amount to a staggering assault. For too long, Rhee says, the system—and her party, the Democrats—has languished in the grip of do-nothing bureaucrats and cynical labor leaders, a protean inertial force that she sometimes calls “the blob.” To fund her cause, Rhee announced in December that she would create a counterbalancing interest group called StudentsFirst, modeled on the NRA, for which she is hoping to raise $1 billion. Rhee frequently says she launched StudentsFirst because “there is no big organized interest group that defends and promotes the interests of children,” a line that, like a lot of things she says, is both highly debatable and maddening to her many critics, since it suggests that any disagreement is tantamount to child neglect. But Rhee sees no room to play nicely with others. “We’ve been doing a disservice to kids for many years,” she said in a recent speech at the Manhattan Institute. “So let’s get comfortable with a little fighting.”

Read the entire story here.

http://nymag.com/news/features/michelle-rhee-2011-3/

And note.  Mayor Kevin Johnson is building this effort in Sacramento along with Democrats ? for Education Reform.

1,500 in Sacramento Rally for Wisconsin Workers

Over 1500  union members and supporters rallied again  at the State Capitol in Sacramento  on Feb.26,  called by Move- on.com, and Jobs with Justice to support the working people in Wisconsin in their struggle to defend their  union rights.  Speakers described the financial crisis that began  2007  as  an assault on organized  labor, working people, and our democracy.   A retired teacher from Wisconsin detailed many of the events occurring in Madison in an effort to end the demonstrations by public employees and families there.  For example, Wisconsin teachers and public employees have agree to all of the demanded salary and benefit cuts, but insist that their union rights to negotiate be protected.  This defense of union rights is not acceptable to Governor Walker and the Koch Brothers who fund him.

 Several speakers, and several signs noted that the assault in Wisconsin is class war- by the rich against working people.

While Wall Street has recovered and returned to profitability, working people continue to suffer  15 million unemployed with at least 10 million more under employed.   It is more than a crisis - the reality is that the financial class has looted the U.S. economy.  The Oligarchs  took 13 trillion dollars  out of the economy and caused 4 million people to lose their homes and  another 4.5 million to fall into foreclosure.   Now they want you and I to pay for their greed by forcing budget cuts on the states. 

            In 2010-2011 the crisis is hitting state and local governments hard.  The AFL-CIO is tracking this assault at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/states/.   

In November of 2010 Republicans and the Tea Party  won a majority in the House of Representatives, took control of several state houses including Wisconsin , elected governors, and now dominate the main steam media with their messages.  Conservative forces, the Republicans, the Tea Party, and others use the economic  crisis in the states to launch aggressive campaigns against public sector unions and the salaries and pensions of public sector workers.

            The Sacramento response, like rallies in other states condemned the anti union campaigns of Republican governors and legislators.  In Wisconsin Governor Walker's immediate attack is aimed directly at some 200,000 public workers in Wisconsin.

As Rose Ann DeMoro Executive Director,  California Nurses Association said in a well distributed letter,

“Working people did not create the recession or the budgetary crisis facing federal, state and local governments, and there can be no more concessions, period.

It should be apparent that the right wants to scapegoat workers and their unions, and is trying to exploit the economic crisis for an all-out assault on unions, public employees, and all working people in a campaign that is funded by right-wing, corporate billionaires like the Koch brothers.

Who caused the economic crisis? Banks, Wall Street speculators, mortgage lenders, global corporations shifting jobs from the U.S. overseas.

Who is profiting in the recession? Corporate profits, third quarter of 2010, were $1.6 trillion, 28 percent higher than the year before, the biggest one-year jump in history.”

         At the Saturday rally in Sacramento Jim Hard of SEIU 1000 said that if the Republicans are able to break unions in Wisconsin and the Mid West, next they will be attacking social security.

         John Reiger of Veterans for Peace said that over 50% of the federal budget went to war and defense.  If we had these billions here, we could hire the teachers, fire fighters, police, nurses and social workers we need to take care of our own communities.

            The Sacramento rally was organized by Move-on.com as one of over 50 rallies nationwide today, one in each of the state capitols plus rallies in major cities including Chicago and New York City.  Each rally united unions and citizens groups to  oppose the attacks on union rights  of  Wisconsin Governor  Walker  and the Republican majorities in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and other states.  

     The turn out on Saturday was impressive since labor had held a similar rally on Tues and turned out over 2,500 on the same issues.  Some 75 Tea Party supporters rallied  to support Governor Walker and state budget cuts at the other end of the Capitol Plaza.
The Sacramento Bee has  a photo essay on their web page.

Reported by Duane Campbell .

The fight in Wisconsin is just downstream from the Wall Street swindle. It isn’t really about deficits. And it certainly isn’t about teachers or civil servants being too well paid! It’s about power. The corporate right is trying to exploit the economic crisis to make the rich still richer. It’s time to say “No” -- time to make Wall Street pay its fair share.

With taxes on corporations and the wealthy falling, they expect the rest of us to make up the difference -- from Wisconsin to Ohio to the nation as a whole. It’s time to flip the script.

We have a modest proposal:  Pass a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street traders.

• A tiny tax on Wall Street transactions would raise $100 billion per year in revenue and $1 trillion in ten years.
• This “Financial Transaction Tax” would rein in the footloose market speculators.
• It would put Wall Street to work for Main Street.

Please sign our petition demanding that Congress pass a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street traders.

The super-rich players played us when they pushed to deregulate Wall Street. They caused the global economic collapse with their “greed is good” ethic. The financial crisis in the states is a direct result of these Wall Street manipulations.

Is it any surprise that before he became Ohio’s anti-union governor, John Kasich was a high-paid executive at the now-defunct Lehman Brothers pushing Ohio’s pension fund into the kinds of risky investments that nearly tanked our nation’s economy?

There’s plenty of wealth in Wisconsin, in Ohio, in our country. The problem? Most of it is at the top. We can’t have democracy when the top one percent in our nation have more assets than the bottom 95 percent.  And we can’t allow state deficits to become a conversation about which group of workers gets cut the most.

We call on Congress to pass a Robin Hood tax on Wall Street now. It’s time Wall Street paid for for the mess they made.

And it’s time for the Congressional Progressive Caucus to boldly promote this powerful legislation.

Sign here and we will deliver your message loud and clear to the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has the potential to be a major force for flipping the script on Capitol Hill.

Signed,

Aimee, Sarah and the RootsAction team

           

Thousands rally in Sacramento in support of Wisconsin workers

Sacramento Rally
Updated 2/23/2011

Over 2500 union members and supporters rallied at the State Capitol in Sacramento  on Feb. 22,2011, in a candle light vigil to support the working people in Wisconsin in their struggle to defend their  union rights. The financial crisis that began  2007  is an assault on organized  labor, working people, and our democracy.  To date the corporate class is winning. 

While Wall Street has recovered and returned to profitability, working people continue to suffer  15 million unemployed with at least 10 million more under employed.   It is more than a crisis - the reality is that the financial class has looted the U.S. economy.  The Oligarchs  took 13 trillion dollars  out of the economy and caused 4 million people to lose their homes and  another 4.5 million to fall into foreclosure.   Now they want you and I to pay for their greed by forcing budget cuts on the states. 

            In 2010-2011 the crisis is hitting state and local governments hard.  The AFL-CIO is tracking this assault at http://www.aflcio.org/issues/states/.    Responding the  messaging of the Right many liberals stayed home on election day. Republicans and the Tea Party  won a majority in the House, took control of several state houses, elected governors, and now dominate the main steam media with their messages.  Conservative forces, the Republicans, the Tea Party, and others use the crisis in the states to launch aggressive campaigns against public sector unions and the salaries and pensions of public sector workers.

            The Sacramento response, like rallies in other states condemned the anti union campaigns of Republican governors and legislators.  In Wisconsin Governor Walker's immediate attack is aimed directly at some 200,000 public workers in Wisconsin.

As Rose Ann DeMoro Executive Director,  California Nurses Association said in a well distributed letter,

“Working people did not create the recession or the budgetary crisis facing federal, state and local governments, and there can be no more concessions, period.

It should be apparent that the right wants to scapegoat workers and their unions, and is trying to exploit the economic crisis for an all-out assault on unions, public employees, and all working people in a campaign that is funded by right-wing, corporate billionaires like the Koch brothers.

Who caused the economic crisis? Banks, Wall Street speculators, mortgage lenders, global corporations shifting jobs from the U.S. overseas.

Who is profiting in the recession? Corporate profits, third quarter of 2010, were $1.6 trillion, 28 percent higher than the year before, the biggest one-year jump in history.”

“This fight is about far more than cutting salaries and benefits of dedicated public servants," said CTA President David Sanchez about the Sacramento vigil.  " It is about fighting Governor Scott Walker's cynical attempt to undermine the rights of teachers and public sector workers to have a say in their professions."

   In the  Sacramento response on Tuesday,  union teachers, public service workers as well as local unions such as ILGWU and the Steelworkers, the Sheet Metal Workers, were  united to oppose the attacks on union rights  of  Wisconsin Governor  Walker  and the Republican majorities in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and other states.  

Reported by Duane Campbell .

           

Capitol Rally to Support Wisconsin Workers

Fall Foliage- Grass Valley

CSU- Sacramento

Latino Voter Registration Drive

 Sacramento LATINO VOTER REGISTRATION RALLY 

Tuesday, August 17^th at 5 PM
State Capitol, West Steps All are invited. Bring a friend !

The goals of the Cambiando California…un voto a la vez are:

·         To bring people together and focus on the necessity that all eligible Latinos are registered and, where possible, are absentee voters

·         To generate enthusiasm among Latino voters, instilling confidence that they have the power to change California by voting in November.

Participants in the Sacramento event include labor and faith-based community organizations and elected officials; CTA, SEIU, CSEA, Progressive Alliance, and more 

For more information, please contact Lino Pedres at 916-498-9505 or Arturo Laris at 916-927-9772 ext. 228.

Sacramento Libraries found lacking

In the 2009 America's Most Literate Cities report, six California cities placed in the bottom seven places in public library quality: Bakersfield (69th), Los Angeles (70th), Anaheim (71st), Sacramento (72nd), Stockton (74th) and Santa Ana (75th).

California also has the worst-supported school libraries in the country, in terms of both holdings and staffing.

Study after study shows that library quality is related to higher scores on reading tests. It is therefore not surprising that California children do poorly on reading tests: Children get better in reading by reading a lot, and they read more when they have access to books.

Let's divert some of the huge sums spent on testing to funding libraries. Let's invest in promoting learning, not just measuring it.

Stephen Krashen
The writer is a professor emeritus at USC's Rossier School of Education.

Little school reform happening

The U.S, and the school systems in most of  our cities, including Sacramento, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and others,  are currently at a crisis  point.  The  economic crisis has ended almost all school reform efforts. Politicians and candidates like Meg Whitman  continue to pontificate, but lack of funding and the demoralizing cuts in school budgets and staff have ended almost all real reform.  Nothing in Whitman's campaign promises will improve schools.  Her proposed budgets would increase the decimation of school opportunity.
  The anti tax candidates, like Whitman, would  continue schools  as they are. A segment of society will be well-educated, another segment will continue to fail.

The economic crisis for working families  will continue to grow (Mishel, Bernstein, Allegretto, 2007, Paul Krugman, The return of depression economics and the crisis of 2008.  (2009) Dean Baker,  Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy, (2009) Nomi Prins.  It Takes a Pillage: Behind the bailouts, bonuses and backroom Deals from Washington to  Wall Street. (2009), and the numerous other others cited on this blog in posts on the economic crisis. )

Alternatively, schools could  be transformed into places where education is a rich, compelling, and affirming process that prepares all young people to make thoughtful contributions to their community in economic and civic terms.

The possibility for change exists and gives those of us dedicated to democratic schools hope.  Current   proposals promoted by conservative institutes and  Ed Voice,    such as school choice and using public monies to fund private education  will not lead to democratic reform. Rather than continue these privileges, a reform movement must build on democratic ideals of progress and equality of opportunity. These traditional  democratic values can triumph over the hostility and violence produced by racism, sexism, and class bias presently accepted as “normal” and natural in our schools.

The growth of the African American, Asian, and Latino middle class—a direct result of the Civil Rights Movement’s use of political power to reduce discrimination based on race—provides powerful evidence that racism can be combated through education and public policy. Frederick Douglass spoke to this issue in 1849 when he wrote the following:

The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all absorbing, and for the time being putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physically one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will.

(Douglass, 1849/1991, p. vii)

Updated From: Choosing Democracy; a practical guide to multicultural education.  Campbell, Duane. 2010. P, 404, with economic references updated. 

Outrage from the Tea Party

 There is vehement outrage from the Right on the Sac Bee news site covering the City Council vote 6-1 to boycott Arizona. 

These folks are a small minority pretending to be a majority.  Poizner received some 26% of the Republican vote in the primary with his anti immigrant rhetoric. 
BTW,  You can get much of the same zeal in the letters  by attacking teachers' unions or public sector workers pensions. Not quite as bigotted, but equally vehement. 



 We are in the greatest economic crisis since the 1930's. Part of the problem is the legitimate anxiety of people with few jobs and few opportunities.  The Tea Party activists and their Republican funders, and the anti immigrant activists promote conflicts over issues of immigration, teachers' unions, public workers pensions, and big government as substitutes for a real analysis of economic problems. The  financial crisis was caused by the greed and the theft of a few very rich operatives. The oligarchy caused the unemployment ( not immigrants), the economic losses, the off shoring of production jobs, the cuts in services such as police and fire to families.

Sacramento City Council votes to boycott Arizona

By a vote of 6-1, the Sacramento City Council voted to support the boycott of Arizona over its immigration law. The letter columns of the Bee are afire with threats from Right Wing, anti immigrant extremists.
For more on the Arizona law, go to www.antiracismdsa.blogspot.com

We are in the greatest economic crisis since the 1930’s. The Tea Party activists and their Republican funders, and the anti immigrant activists  promote  conflicts over  issues of immigration,  teachers’ unions, public workers pensions, and big government as substitutes for a real  analysis of  economic problems.  The U.S. and eventually world wide financial crisis was caused by the greed and the theft of a few very rich operatives.    The oligarchy caused the unemployment ( not immigrants), the economic losses, the off shoring of production jobs,  the cuts in services such as police and fire to families. 

Sacramento City School budget woes

An excellent piece by a local teacher.  It will  be followed by an outburst of anti teacher writing. Readers might want to write in and support him.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/12/2816935/pay-cuts-wont-solve-city-schools.html

Assembly district 9 - Elect Chris Garland

There is an important election on  June 8, and it is important that you vote.

Assembly District 9. Endorsed:  Chris Garland and Kevin Mc Carty. Sacramento Progressive Alliance

Why vote for Chris Garland?  Its time to shake up the Capitol.

The Sacramento Progressive Alliance and others interviewed each of the major candidates for Assembly District 9, most of the district lies within Sacramento.  This is the seat currently held by Dave Jones.  District 9 has a 55.9 % Democrat, 19.8 Republican, 19.4 % decline to state voter registration.  ( Plus American Independent 2.5%, Green 1%, Libertarian 0.5%, and Peace and Freedom 0.8%).

After considering the major candidates on the issues most important to the Progressive Alliance, we recommend that you vote for either Chris Garland or Kevin Mc Carty.  This post explains why we prefer Chris Garland.  A following post will explain why support Kevin Mc Carty.   All four of the major candidates on the Democratic side were impressive.  We will be able to support anyone of them who wins the primary.

Garland explains his advocacy this way.  “ California’s in trouble.

 Our state budget is in a constant state of crisis, our policy-makers are gridlocked, and vital services are at-risk. Teachers are being laid off, and the promise of quality higher education for all may be a thing of the past.”

Chris Garland is currently the political director of the California Faculty Association. His responses were clearly closest to the perspective of the Progressive Alliance.  Like most of the candidates, he has served in positions as staff within the legislature.  He was deputy director of member services  for the Assembly Speaker’s office from 2005-2007.  We regard this significant legislative experience as valuable.  In this era of term limits, electing a person with prior experience in the legislature allows that person to lead rather than spend the first two years in on-the-job training.

 We regard dealing with the higher education budget crisis (along with that of k-12) as critical.  Of all of the candidates, Chris Garland best understood the crisis of  budgets and higher education in California.

In the last two years California’s  k-12 schools have taken  over a  $16 Billion  cut . California presently ranks  47th  of the states in per pupil spending and last among the states in class size.  Now, the Governor proposes to reduce  k-12 spending by another  $2.4 Billion.  Last year alone, the U.C’s and the CSU campuses have taken over a  $2 billion cut while tuition and fees were increased over 30%.  Classes have been cut, graduation delayed, and  over 2000 faculty dismissed.   CSU tuition has increased by 182%  under Schwarzenegger .  Next year some 40,000 eligible students will be denied access to California universities.  The crisis in k-12 is equally severe as described in Robles-Wong et al. V. State of California (May 2010).  We need an Assemblyperson who will work with communities and labor to save pubic education in California.

The nation  including California is suffering a severe recession.  Twenty Six million  are unemployed and under employed. This crisis was created by finance capital and banking, mostly on Wall Street ,ie. Chase Banks, Bank of America, AIG, and others.  It was not caused by teachers, students, or college students.   Fifteen million people are out of work.  Rather, finance capital stole the future of many young people. What caused this crisis?   Economist Dean Baker says, “The reality is that we got into this mess because of an overwhelming excess of greed and stupidity on the part of the Wall Street bankers and the people deciding economic policy. “

In response to the  declining revenues caused by the economic crisis, for 2010, the Governor proposes  further draconian cuts in Cal Works, IHSS, Medi Cal and Children’s nutrition  among others-  each of which hurts the  poor in our state.   State  budget cuts make the economic  crisis worse. They create more unemployment.

        The legislature must hear from us.  And, we want an Assembly person who will listen to our concerns.  Chris Garland demonstrated his willingness to listen, to share, and to  seek solutions to the crises.

To respond to the economic crisis , California needs majority rule.  We must eliminate the 2/3requirement to pass  budgets and revenue in the legislature.   This requirement allows anti-tax radicals in the Republican Party to cut corporate taxes even in the face of declining revenue.  And, they prevent passing new taxes.   It would cost less than $32 each from the average tax payer to restore state funding the higher education, but we can not get these proposals through the legislature nor past the governor.

 Chris Garland, of all the candidates interviewed, had  the clearest view of the budget and  a realistic comprehension of the role of public budgets  in responding to the fiscal crises in the states.  He, as well as the  other candidates, were committed to the repeal of the 2/3 rules for both budgets and taxes.   Each of the candidates had support from one or more sectors of unions.

In this election we must stop the Mississippification of California education. To do that we must take power away from the anti tax radicals in the legislature.  Chris Garland has the organization and the skills to support such substantive change.  Contact.

http://garland4assembly.com/

In an earlier post we endorsed Tom Torlakson for Superintendent of Public Instruction.
here.

Breton 2, Sacramento CTA 0

  But it is only the first inning.

This anti union tirade  by Marcos Bretón on page B-1 of the Bee today, leaves much to be desired.  I will leave aside the argument about Manny Virrael. Others have dealt with that.  And, Breton may even be right. But the rest of the article is lame.

What Breton does not say - we have an economic crisis.  Forty states have budget crises.  Almost all of the school districts in the state have budget crises. What caused this crisis ? It was caused by the greed and avarice of the financial class on Wall Street  and aided by the politicians of both major political parties.

Major banks and corporations looted the economy creating an international meltdown. The major bankers, finance capitalists in the U.S. robbed the bank last year  – and the federal treasury.  The Wall Street crisis crashed into main street.  People lost their jobs and their houses.  When they lost their jobs, they paid less taxes.  So, the schools and the states are in crisis.  Wall Street  took hundreds of billions of dollars .  The crisis was not caused by students, teachers, public employees  nor recipients of social security. 

 Teachers, like all taxpayers, are already paying for this theft.  What Breton does say.   Bretón thinks that teachers  should pay more through forloughs and cuts in benefits.  And, he thinks he knows best.  He inserts his views into the negotiations by publically condemning the teachers union and stirring up – or revealing- this intense teacher bashing exposed in the comments on the story.   Some people, like Steve Poizner, blame immigrants for the economic crisis.  Breton blames teachers unions.  In both cases it is scapegoating rather than looking at the evidence.

For a second opinion,  please read the Grand Jury Report issued today.  Here. full grand jury report,  http://www.sacgrandjury.org/

The Grand Jury report completely buys the position of the new Superintendent, without much evidence to support this position.  They should have been more investigative.   But, at least, the report describes the problem  in a less anti union manner.  It describes the real economic issues facing the district.

March for California's Future reaches Sacramento

Over 8,000 teachers and other public workers  demonstrated in support of  the March for California’s Future  at the State Capitol in Sacramento on April 21.  Eight  marchers  walked over 300 miles in 48 days to demand that schools and public services be adequately funded.   California Federation of Teachers President Marty Hittelman said, since 1992, the top 1% of California income earners – people who average $1.6 million per year, have doubled their share of the state’s income from 13 percent to 25%.  At the same time, this group has had its income tax rates reduced.

Revenue shortages in California have led to the lay off of some 14,000 teachers, school closures, and cuts in social services.   Lost tax revenue due to loopholes for the rich and large corporations is costing the state’s general fund billions.  For example, California does not have a law to tax oil companies for taking oil from the ground, a major source of revenue for Alaska and Texas.
Unfortunately the Sacramento Bee hardly covered this.  One photo and a paragraph. Less information than given here. But the thousands were there.  It had rained earlier in the day so I guess the Bee did not want their reporters to get wet.  Instead, they sat inside the capitol and covered politicians. This was among the three major labor/education marches this Spring.
Update.  On April 23, the Bee had a second photo and two more paragraphs on page a-3.  I guess two paragraphs one day, and two paragraphs the next makes a story? Or, perhaps it shows that news coverage begins when you go inside the Capitol building, not outside.

Marching for California's Future

Sacramento schedule

April 19.  Consumnes River College.  12 noon.

April 20, CSU-Sacramento.   12 noon.

April 21. Sacramento State Capitol

           2 Pm. Assemble at South Side Park.

           3 PM.  March to the Capitol.

           4. PM.  Rally at the Capitol

Budget crisis in Sacramento schools

The Bee writes today  as if the  budget crisis  of Sacramento City Unified, and 17 other local school districts is a problem of teachers being unwilling to take pay cuts. (They already receive are paid less than teachers in the surrounding districts.)

This  economic crisis was created by finance capital and banking, mostly on Wall Street particularly  Chase Banks, Bank of America, Citi Group, AIG, and others – not by teachers and not by students. Finance capital produced a $ 2 trillion bailout of the financial industry, the doubling of America’s unemployment rate and the loss of 2 million manufacturing jobs in 2008.  Fifteen million people are out of work.

Rather than blame the teachers,  an appropriate response would be to tax the banks  and the financial trades.  We pay a 8% sales tax in California.  There should be at least a 3% tax on sales of stocks and derivatives and financial instruments. Such a tax could fund the schools and slow down the excesses of  casino capitalism.  

Duane Campbell

Capitol Protest by 8000 Today

California’s growing student led protests.

By Duane Campbell

Over 8000 students and their supporters rallied outside the California State Capitol  In Sacramento on March 22 to demand adequate funding for education.    Students brought buses of demonstrators from community colleges throughout  central and northern California.  This march ,organized primarily by community college groups and their allies, was the latest in a series of  demonstrations responding to proposals to dramatically cut funding for education in California. 

The March 22 rally followed a March 4 rally when  2000 faculty, students and their supporters rallied at the State Capitol while thousands rallied at campuses and cities around the state.    There were  more than 40 events across the state asking people to stand up for education. Faculty and students came to Sacramento  from UC Davis, Santa Cruz, and Berkeley, as well as CSU Sacramento, Chico, and community colleges. Rallies and protests also occurred on other CSU, UC and community colleges across the state.
Photos are here:

Capitol Monday. CDA signs and stickers were everywhere. We got lots of visibility and signatures.

 

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/22/2626105/capitol-rally-protests-budgets.html?mi_rss=Photo%20Galleries

Sac City Superintendent gives pink slips to 700, chooses Teach for America

My name is Lori Jablonski and I am a SCTA site rep at C.K. McClatchy High School .  This email is to inform you about action at Thursday’s school board meeting that is being organized by a group of elementary, middle and high school site reps in response to both the issuance of 700 pink slips this week (affecting approx. 1/4 of the school district teaching corps.) and the related move to bring Teach for America interns to the school district.   This effort to organize a strong, united response to the assault on our jobs, our schools and the integrity of our professional careers is not intended to subvert the SCTA union leadership.   Instead, we hope to convince the leadership that rank and file teachers demand a more assertive, more communicative and more active effort on behalf of our membership before the school board and district administration.  Even more, we intend to clearly show the school board that we are ready to hold them fully accountable for decisions and actions taken by Superintendent Raymond that will seriously undermine education in this district.

We believe that when school opens tomorrow, there will still be a fairly significant number of teachers who will not be aware of the total number of pink slips that have been issued and the depth and breadth of the lay-offs.   Nor will they have a real sense of what the Teach for America program is about or the significance.  We are strongly suggesting that you (or ask your site rep) to call an emergency site union meeting on Monday or Tuesday at the latest. 

At McClatchy, for example, we will be calling for a meeting tomorrow during lunch in the staff lounge, a time that is most convenient for the teachers on our campus.  Please choose the time and place where you believe you can get maximum attendance.   (You might also consider taking notes, copying them and distributing by hand to those teachers unable to attend your meeting). 

At the meeting, we are suggesting you briefly explain these major points:

1. Over 700 pink slips have been issued, including pink slips for those who teach Math, Science and Special Ed.  These “hard to place” categories are important to emphasize because the Superintendent has said several times this week that lay-offs would not take place in these categories.

2. As he issues 700 pink slips, the Superintendent is working to bring the Teach for America (TFA) program to Sacramento.   The plan is to pay the private non-profit TFA corporation $2.7 million (the money will be raised by the district from the private sector) to recruit and train 30 TFA teaching interns to teach in Sac City schools. Their salaries and benefits will be absorbed in the general fund.  TFA recruits recent college grads to sign up for two-year teaching stints in under-performing schools and school districts. The Superintendent claims that the TFA interns will not replace Sac City teachers, but will instead supplement our current teaching staff in hard to staff areas, specifically Math, Science and Special Ed. An additional 30 TFA interns will be added to the district staff roster each year for at least the next three years.  In the event of future lay-offs due to ongoing budget woes, TFA interns would be skipped and would not receive pink slips.  The presence of TFA will cost younger, less senior teachers their jobs.

Attached, you will find some additional talking points regarding TFA.  

And below check out the Bee article:

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/11/2598445/sacramento-vies-for-teach-for.html

3. The Superintendent and his Chief of Staff have told parents and school board members that TFA is necessary because teacher education graduates from Sac State and Davis will not work in Sac City schools.   Therefore, TFA is necessary to fill the new teaching positions that Sac State and Davis can’t.  I spoke at length with the coordinator of the Sac State secondary teacher training preparation program this weekend. She denies that this is the case and said that Sac State regularly graduates more fully credentialed teacher applicants than the district and all surrounding districts can absorb—even in hard to staff areas.   She also said that she believes probably half the teacher corp. in Sac City was trained at Sac State .  Her current student teachers (and she has them throughout the district, even in the highest need schools) would love to work in Sac City , if there were any jobs available.

4. TFA is being used in school districts across the nation, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg, where our superintendent comes from, to undermine and weaken the union, to reconstitute teaching staffs at low-performing schools, and to suppress the overall wages and benefits paid to teachers in these districts. 

5. Urge your teachers to attend the school board meeting on Thursday, March 18^th.   We want teachers to stand in unity behind several teachers from the elementary, middle and high school segments who will speak out regarding the pink slipping and TFA.   We expect the board to give us no more than 15 minutes total to cover everyone who wishes to speak out.  Therefore, we would like to get an idea of the total number of folks who want to speak and organize the speaking cards appropriately so that we have a nice sampling of voices and messages.   Most teachers will simply be asked to stand silently in support of their colleagues. 

The plan is for teachers to arrive by 6:00 pm to get a seat in the board chambers.  The item number to be addressed will come up at 7:27 pm; Item 9.1

During the public comment when folks are speaking, all the teachers present in the board chambers will be asked to stand up, some right next to the speakers.  

We plan on calling out with a show of hands those teachers who received their teacher training at Sac State and Davis .

We understand that student teachers might be reluctant to show up to the school board meeting, so please make a list of all student teachers/interns at your school site.  If student teachers decide not to attend, we can compile the lists and wave them in front of the school board as evidence of prepared teacher applicants eager to teach in Sac City .

Finally, please distribute the following phone number and emails of SCUSD Board Members at your emergency union meeting.

Ask members to write and express their strong opposition to what’s taking place.  We need to have an unprecedented show of strength and unity before a school board that was elected with the strong support and sweat equity of Sac City teachers.

Board central phone number: (916) 643-9314 

ellynebell@yahoo.com; (Ellyne Bell)

patrick@patrickkennedylaw.com; (Patrick Kennedy)

jerry@housemanconsulting.com; (Jerry Houseman)

Donaldterry4schoolboard@yahoo.com; (Donald Terry)

gustavoarroyo1@gmail.com; (Gustavo Arroyo)

Diana4scusd@yahoo.com; (Diana Rodriguez)

leadershipnow@att.net; (Roy Grimes)

Superintendent@sac-city.k12.ca.us; (Superintendent Raymond)

Don’t hesitate to email me with any questions.   Please see the Real Teachers Facebook site for updates:

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=real+teachers&init=quick#!/group.php?gid=350702650204&ref=ts

Thank you.  In unity,

Lori Jablonski

C.K. McClatchy Teacher
Note. The  Bilingual/Multicultural Education department at Sac State has prepared over 400 teachers for Sac City Schools, and there are over 30 presently looking for a job. 
So, this approach by Sup. Raymond is based upon his lack of knowledge of the local area. 
Please let him know of his errors.