Spring has arrived, bringing with it the annual scattering of
pink slips. In recent years, it is a phenomenon as reliable as the
appearance of the cherry blossoms, but without the promise of a
sweet future.
Spring has arrived, bringing with it the annual scattering of pink slips. In recent years, it is a phenomenon as reliable as the appearance of the cherry blossoms, but without the promise of a sweet future.
In the Morgan Hill Unified School District, 38 teachers received pink slips in March, notifying them that their positions will be eliminated in June. In addition, all temporary teachers (about 20) will see their jobs end. We are losing nearly every elementary school teacher hired during the past four years, along with a number of secondary school teachers.
These losses are not the result of declining enrollment, nor of poor performance; they are strictly due to continuing budget cuts in education.
Coming on the heels of many consecutive years of budget cuts, this year’s losses are especially painful. Indeed, every year the cuts are more painful than the year before, as the easier choices have already been made.
Let’s review some of the cuts that we have made over the years. We lost the seven-period day for high school students decades ago. The district stopped providing free bus transportation not long after that. We lost 9th-grade class size reduction for English classes.
We have lost most of our elementary music teachers (or is it all of them?). Ditto librarians (even elementary library clerks), counselors, nurses, custodians.
The swimming pool at Britton was filled in because the district could no longer afford to maintain it. We closed Burnett Elementary School entirely.
This year there will be no summer school offered for students who have failed classes and need to repeat them.
We have increased class sizes to 36 in the secondary schools (55 in PE classes). Next year, we will be increasing K-3 class sizes from 20 to 24.
I shudder to think how many more rounds of this we will have to endure, and what will be lost next.
So how did we get into this mess?
I know it is sacrilege to suggest this, and I can hear the heavens rumbling as I write it (OK, it is a stormy day), but I say it all started with Proposition 13 in 1978.
Schools are funded primarily by the state. In California, schools receive funding from the state’s general fund, which gets most of its money from state income taxes, state sales taxes and property taxes.
When Proposition 13 was passed as part of a taxpayer revolt, it was promoted as a life preserver for homeowners, especially senior citizens on fixed incomes whose property taxes were rising at an alarming rate because of burgeoning property values. And so Proposition 13 froze property taxes at a baseline level, and dictated that they could not be raised unless the property was sold or significantly improved. But, as you might guess, there were other entities out there beside homeowners who managed to benefit, as they saw to it that the law included protections for corporate landowners as well – oil companies who own large refineries, power companies, agribusiness, you name it. When all of these property owners saw their taxes frozen at 1978 levels the state’s general fund suffered a serious blow, and it gets worse every year. This is why educators advocate reforming Proposition 13.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s slashing of the vehicle license fee, the loss of revenue from both sales taxes and income taxes due to the recession, and tax cuts for the wealthiest among us year after year, have only exacerbated the problem.
It is time for Californians to do some serious soul-searching. Do we value a sense of community? Or are we each in it only for ourselves? Do we have any loyalty to our state, any commitment to its future?
As long as we keep listening to politicians who tell us that we should pay even less in taxes, that we should further cut public spending, that the people we elect to represent us have no business making decisions on our behalf, we will continue on this downward spiral, dismantling our public infrastructure and crippling our state.
I am hoping the day will soon dawn when Californians realize we have one of the largest economies in the world, and we can afford to have world-class public services.
Jeanie Wallace teaches math and social studies at Ann Sobrato High School, has two children who attend schools in the district and is writing on behalf on the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers.
