Alameda Education Foundation

Protest At Base Draws 100s

Members from all sectors of Alameda’s education community rallied at the USS Hornet Wednesday morning, to send a strong message that Alamedans won’t tolerate the governor’s proposed cuts to public education funding.

The rally was timed to coincide with the annual meeting of the Bay Area Council, at which Governor Schwarzenegger was scheduled to speak. Parents, teachers, district staff, maintenance workers, students and clerical workers all showed up to hold signs, chant, and stand in AEF’s Step Up trash cans near the Hornet, where the conference was being held.

“I’m here to today because the teachers in this district want the Governor to know that he needs to fully fund Proposition 98,” said Patricia Sanders, president of the Alameda Education Association, which represents AUSD’s teachers. “The fact that our funding in this state is so low is an embarrassment.”

(Proposition 98 is a constitutional amendment that guarantees a minimal level of funding to public schools. Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed waiving that proposition to help balance the state’s ailing budget.)

Jerome Thomas, an electrician with AUSD, said he showed up “because I want to support the kids. Maintenance workers have been laid off again and again over the last decade. The governor can’t keep refusing to fund our districts.”

About 200 Encinal High students showed up to help the effort, as did students from Paden Elementary School. “We’re here to support the schools,” said Kenny McLitus, a 10th grader from Encinal High. “We need money from the state so we can continue to play sports.” Tony Nix, also an Encinal 10th grader, agreed. “I play football for my school,” he said. “I’m here to ask that we get enough funding to support school athletics.”

Evelyn Ivy, 8, who attends Franklin, stood in a trashcan for about an hour, because, she said,”I don’t want my second grade buddy to miss music next year.” The district has proposed cutting music programs for grades 1-3, in an attempt to save money.

Holding both “Public Education is Too Valuable to Waste” signs and thosemade by volunteers the night before, the crowd stayed in a small parking area just across from the Hornet throughout the morning. All 20 of the Step Up trash cans held demonstrators throughout the event. “The governor should be taking money away from programs that have mismanaged funds,” said Monique McGovern, a health clerk at Lincoln Middle School who stood in a can for several hours to express her ire at the governor’s proposed cuts. “They shouldn’t be taking it from children, who have nothing but try to learn.”

Mark Irons, a contractor with two children at Alameda High School, spent several hours at the rally because “the current cuts are greater than anything I’ve ever seen in 17 years of being involved with this district. We just can’t absorb it.”

While most teachers in the district were in their classrooms during the rally, Maria McCord, a part-time teacher at Washington Elementary School, was able to spend her day off supporting the effort. “I’m here because I believe we need to make a statement to the Bay Area that low-wealth districts like Alameda cannot sustain this level of cuts,” she said. “I’m here for Alameda and the other districts.”

A number of representatives from California State Employees Association, which represents clerical workers, custodians, gardeners, and maintenance workers in the district also raised their voices at the protest. “We’re here because the governor is here,” said Cindy Zecher, Area C Director of CSEA. ” Added Stanley Bransgrove, a senior labor relations representative with CSEA, noted that Alameda is hardly the only district that will suffer from the governor’s proposed budget cuts. “School districts all across the state are having rallies and other events this spring,” he said. “None of them can withstand this level of cuts.”

Trish Spencer, president of the PTA Council, brought “Flunk the Budget, Not Our Children” signs to the demonstration. “I want to make a lot of noise so the public becomes aware of the need for state support of our schools,” she said.
Participants in the Council’s conference walked by the demonstrators throughout the morning, some giving the thumbs up sign or clapping as they went by. The governor arrived around 10:50 am; demonstrators at the front of the crowd said he did, indeed, look over at the activities as he drove by.