It’s not every day you hear school bus drivers put a heavy hand
to their horns, but they did so with gusto at 6:30 a.m. Thursday as
a crowd of about 30 rallied against state budget cuts in front of
Britton Middle School.
It’s not every day you hear school bus drivers put a heavy hand to their horns, but they did so with gusto at 6:30 a.m. Thursday as a crowd of about 30 rallied against state budget cuts in front of Britton Middle School.
“The state is balancing the budget on the backs of our children,” said Gabrielle Borgnino, a grandmother of two children who attend P.A. Walsh Elementary School.
Supporters of all qualifications – parents, teachers, principals, children, school board trustees and Morgan Hill Unified’s Superintendent Dr. Wes Smith and his family – became allies in a 41-degree, early morning effort to get the community’s attention that Morgan Hill schools are hurting.
“(The children) are why we’re here. This is the real representation of the kids we’re trying to help,” Trustee Kathy Sullivan said while cars driving on Monterey Road honked in support of the rally. “And it’s cold, and they’re cold and they’re still out here. I appreciate that.”
Dozens of gloved-hands held signs that read “SOS: Save Our Schools” and others designed by P.A. Walsh students, “Do not take our $$$” and “Don’t mess with our future.”
“When my kids were making signs, we talked about why we’re making them and what they meant,” Smith said. “They don’t understand what 17 billion dollars is, but they can understand that teachers are getting laid off and class sizes are getting larger … They get that. They want more for their future.”
The so-called Day of Action is in response to the severe cuts in California. In the last two years, MHUSD has faced 16 classified employees layoffs, the closing of Barrett Elementary school in 2009 as result of a $9 million deficit, and now 28 elementary school teachers await their pink slips March 10 due to $2.8 million that must be saved.
The California effort – aided by the use of social media such as Facebook – also spread eastward. Schools and colleges in New York, Texas, Rhode Island, Michigan, Louisiana and other states held similar demonstrations on their campuses. It reached elementary schools to public colleges and universities that have been forced to cancel classes, ordered furloughs and enacted unprecedented student fee increases.
One of the newest aspects of this wave of campus protests sparked by budget cuts is the alliance of students, faculty, staff and alumni on issues that directly affect so many: College costs, career options, and job and financial security.
Also unusual is the expected participation in the protests of kindergarten-to-12th-grade educators, who are experiencing similar budget problems that have forced layoffs, led to larger classes and resulted in cancellations of art, music, physical education and other programs. A group of Gavilan College students will travel to Sacramento March 22 to protest.
More than 100 K-12 schools and districts planned demonstrations and community events for Thursday, raising expectations that the protest may be one of the most widespread ever in California and increasing the chances of catching legislators’ attention, organizers say.
“They need to do some budgeting and figure it out. We all do (budget) at home, I don’t know why they can’t do that in the government,” said Paula Scotney-Castle, a mother of two children at P.A. Walsh.
Her son, second-grader Jack and first-time protester, knew exactly why he was in front of Britton: “The government is taking away money from schools just to pay for money they’re losing.”
McClatchy-Tribune wire services contributed to this story.
