Rally Draws Staff, Teachers, Parents
More than 100 teachers, administrators, parents and students gathered in Alameda yesterday to protest the governor’s proposed cuts to education.
Holding both “Measure H” signs and AEF “Step Up” signs, the protestors mingled for about 45 minutes before hearing speeches from local and state dignitaries.
“We are here for one purpose,” said Patricia Sanders, president of the local teacher’s union, told the crowd in her opening remarks. “We are here to send a clear message to our legislature that we expect each and every one of them in this supposed Year of Education to properly and fully fund public education.
“We cannot do our best,” she added, “when we are constantly asked to do more with less.”
Sanders noted that if California were to give its schools as much per student as New Jersey, AUSD alone would receive more than $65 million each year–nearly double its current budget. “Even if California students were to receive as much as the national average, we’d get $32 million more,” she said. “And if AUSD were to get as much as the state average, we’d have $13 million more each year.”
Superintendent Ardella Dailey and AEF executive director Brooke Briggance also spoke against the proposed cuts, as did Assemblymembers Sandre Swanson and Loni Hancock. Swanson encouraged Alamedans to make their voices heard both via letters to legislatures and the community meeting to be held on May 3rd. “You need to make it clear to Sacramento that you don’t want one dime to be cut from the education budget,” he said.
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