AALA Weekly Update: Week of May 21, 2012 | http://bit.ly/L4m8BX
18 May :: “That all citizens will be given an equal start through a sound education is one of the most basic, promised rights of our democracy. Our chronic refusal as a nation to guarantee that right for all children… is rooted in a kind of moral blindness, or at least a failure of moral imagination…. It is a failure which threatens our future as a nation of citizens called to a common purpose… tied to one another by a common bond.”—Senator Paul Wellstone
The above statement, made in 2000, is even more starkly true today as we react to the release of the Governor’s May Budget Revision this week. While it is generally seen as having little or no change for public education from the initial proposal in January, it is predicated on the passage of a November ballot initiative which will increase taxes. So, as we anxiously held our collective breaths awaiting this revision, it actually brought no relief to our current budget crisis and ultimately hinges the fate of public education, as we know it, on the willingness of the electorate to impose increased tax liabilities upon itself.
If the tax initiative is passed in November, it will be too late to improve the 2012-2013 budget and if not, it will mean more drastic cuts in the second half of the school year. In the worst case scenario, we could be looking at a severely shortened school year with no summer school and the loss of key staff members. How will the State Legislature react to Governor Brown’s proposed cuts and when will a state budget finally be approved? These questions remain unanswered and, consequently, our Superintendent and Board of Education must now make decisions regarding the 2012-2013 school year with no additional revenues projected. Furthermore, there are unfunded mandates and myriad changes on the horizon for 2012-2013: A-G graduation requirements, early start calendar, reorganization of the District, new homework policy, new schools opening, new TB policy, all with reduced revenue, declining enrollments, potential furlough days, shortened school year, fewer support staff and record layoffs. Key decisions must be made in the next few weeks that affect the lives of the children of Los Angeles and the employees of LAUSD.
While Superintendent Deasy is tweeting about the A-G graduation requirement being a civil right, what are we doing about the real civil right to a free, quality education for all? We at AALA continue to object to the current proposals to decimate the Early Childhood Education Division, the Division of Adult and Career Education, Options Schools and support services. Budget balancing cannot be made which results in the reduction of services to the neediest of our children and adults. We patently reject the pattern of continuing to put more demands on schools while restricting resources.
There are six weeks until the beginning of the next fiscal year. Mr. Superintendent and Board Members, it is time to put politics and ambition aside, to show your moral fiber, your commitment to public education, your respect for your employees and do the right thing, make the hard decisions and give us a budget that meets the needs of our students, not your adult, political agendas. Why not start looking at ways to generate revenue, such as charging nominal fees for non-diploma-eligible classes in adult school, increasing facility rental fees, selling or renting unused sites? Why not put some real pressure on the Legislature to develop an appropriate, timely state budget? Why aren’t you inundating the public with facts about the dire straits in which we find ourselves due to the lack of funding by the state?
The public needs information, not PR.
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