Let me start by saying this is our fault as a state. We need to get our priorities set, we now know actors don’t make great politicians. Now we are suffering for our mistakes and ignorance because we put fame and popularity before experience and intelligence. Let adults pay the price not the children, how do we expect the state of California to prosper if you take the very foundation out from under it. Its easy for old government law makers to not care about the younger generations problems for thay won’t be alive when the children now later rule this country. a couple of months ago i thought to my self what would happen if the government completely abolished education, and I said to my self, looks like this country just gets more and more Muslim ever since 9/11 is that your goal, to turn the greatest country in the world in to another Afganiastan or Iraq well before i go on and on about how screwed up this country is, I have to go home to my daughter and hope she has a bright future full of education and knowledge, at least more than I had.

ATTENTION ALL LAW STATE OFFICIALS. PLEASE DO NOT CUT DOWN THE BUDGET ON SCHOOLS. WE NEED THE MONEY FOR OUR BOOKS AND TEACHERS. I TURN ON THE TV AND YOU GUYS KEEP ON CUTTING DOWN THE JOBS ON OUR TEACHERS. I DO NOT WANT THAT. WE NEED OUR PROFESSORS AND TEACHERS. SO DO YOUR KIDS. PLEASE NO MORE. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

I urge all lawmakers to support the tax extension. Since it did not get on the June ballot, please make every attempt to get in on a ballot for November 2011.

i totally disagree with the budget cuts!!!! How would are schools be without teachers and education? STOP THE BUDGET CUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its not fair to our children!!!

Why is red used to symbolize this?

the color red was chosen to signify an emergency. Nothing more than that.

STOP MESSING WITH OUR SCHOOLS…..OUR FUTURE AND OUR CHILDRENS FUTURE DEPEND ON A GOOD EDUCATION……EDUCATION WILL SET YOU FREE!!!!!

IM A PARENT OF A 2 GRADE SHE ASK ME Y ARE THE TEACHER LOSING THERE JOB . I SAID . THE BUDGET IS GETTING WORRIES OUT HERE AND , SHE SAID OK MOMMY WHAT EVERY YOU SAY. IT IS SO SAD THAT WE HAVE TOO TELL ARE KIDS IT IS GETTING WORRIES OUT THERE. FROM MORENO VALLEY CALI. NANCY MARIE AVILA – GLAVIANO

i am writing this in regards of the budgets cuts that will be happening to my school district. the drastic cuts that is going to be happening to our school district is going to be very hard on our students and teachers. public schools and colleges like ours have been cut over 20 billion over the last three years, 30,000 teachers are being laid off. this year we would continue to loose 20,000 teachers and 2-4 billion dollars! regardless of the economic crisis schools shouldn’t be the first to suffer from it. i strongly push the state to plan better budgeting and for the state to put more concern into our education. temple city unified school district is going to loose six million dollars. our electives, musical programs, and all our amazing teachers will disappear along with it. this poses a threat to the equality of education our district is trying to provide for us. we are expecting to loose 24 of our out standing teachers this year. thats almost 9%! children are the future of our country. how can the state possibly think that is is acceptable to jeopardize that! education is so important and our extra curricular are what inspires us for the future. students need them to explore new careers and what will best suit them in the future. by cutting our school budget in such a dramatic way will have a huge impact on our school. it is senseless and careless of the state to even consider cutting school fundings and firing teachers to save money. children are our future. by doing this, the state is only going to face greater problems later down the road. so with all due respect i am hope the state consider tax extensions and prevent further harm.

My child’s education is in danger because of the teacher lay offs. I am already concerned about their classes next year, because without teachers, there will be no classes. The state must make a change in education quickly, or our children’s futures will be jeopardized.

My teachers have been receiving pink slips lately and I believe it isn’t right. Without the teachers about to be laid off, we,students, are not able to learn the appropriate amount of education needed. If teachers are laid off, it also means that classes will be more limited. Less classes will be available, which means, education is limited. We are the next generation, and adults have been constantly telling us that the next generation will carry the heavy burden. Without proper education due to loss of teachers, how will we, the next generation, be able to fight through the troubles today?

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Betty. I am a High School student from the Temple City Unified School District in the Los Angeles Country. I am very concerned about the fact that the teachers at my schools are being laid off because of the budgets cuts and many of the classes are being cut off of the budgets cuts. Only recently that I heard, my Spanish teacher will be laid off because of this budget cuts. She is a wonderful Spanish teacher who gives her heart into educating students; also, she is a director of a school group called Link Leaders who help lower classmen feel more comfortable around high school. She is a great teacher, she cares about student. But because of the budget cuts, she won’t be teaching any time sooner. Many students in my high school started a petition for my Spanish teacher to prevent her from being laid off. I hope the California legislators do something to help this issue and do something to show to the people of this state that you cared, you cared about the school, the people and the students who are the future of the United States of America.

Thank you for your concern.

Best Regards

Betty

My wife and I urge the law makers to include the schools in the budget to protect our children and schools and stop the cuts for the education, other way they won’t have any future.

Its not fair to cut teachers! it just isnt! you really should cut of welfare instead of teachers theres a bunch of people who lie just to get welfare! so you should check that out more and keep techers!!!

You end school early, put the kids on the street for an hour because the teachers want to go whine about the bloated education system, and I’m the one whose comments are being censored?

Darian, your hate-filled rants do not help our schools or the students. They just fuel those who would like to destroy public education all together. We will not publish those sorts of comments on this site, so yes, they’ve been “censored”. There are plenty of other sites where I’m sure your vitriol will be appreciated.

If you want to talk about putting kids on the streets, how about you go talk to the parents who are here supporting the cause because their child’s school was just closed due to budget cuts!

And you can stop removing my posts. Truth hurts, doesn’t it?

Just saw tv news clip of group of teachers saying they are embarrassed they “have to” protest today or be shunned by union leaders. Wow. Forced labor from the unions!!! No surprise there. They said they’d rather be in the classroom! Yes! Teachers, take back education. No need for the CTA!

No teachers were “forced” to protest today! None were forced to walk out! Want to share this “tv news clip” or just spout about it? If you want to know why your child is not in school, why don’t you ask the school? They make those decisions, not us and not their individual teachers.

We’re not going to get into a slinging match with you. We have more important things to be doing – like protecting funding for our schools.

Our kids is receiving the low quality education but the government still want to cut the education budget to extremely low–without good education, our future will be hopeless. Please stop spending money on war but save those teacher’s job.

im upset, when i was reading that x-governor Arnold & his family didn’t move to Sacramento or within the area…he use to travel back and forth by Private Jet!! Hello We have a budget crisis & they continue living the life of Riches….and then they go & cut funding from the most important Programs…Please Stop & think You are hurting our Kids & Elderly…among other important programs…Just Stop.

Please do not take any more funding from education. This is my PRIME concern . California is at the bottom of the barrel compared to the rest of the country when it comes to education ( this is what one of our state legislators told my husband while my husband was in Sacramento meeting with state lawmakers and the insurance industry). Let’s not be proud of that and accept low standards for our education system.

–
Sandy Braddock
Simi Valley, CA

It hurts me that our kids will have 20 day of school taking out.
that is almost a month no school. U expect them to pass a test u give them and get all these work that they need to know later on. they can not do this with less school days. we need our teacher to help us what we have hard time to do. i help my kids but it is hard for me and i can not teach them the way the teacher teach them. I am happy when my child comes home and tells me what they have learn. that is what they do and much more. they are my best friends. OUR KIDS NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL SO THEY CAN LEARN AND BE A KIDS AND DO WHAT WE DID AT THERE AGE. SCHOOL IS WHAT U REMEBER LATER WHEN U ARE OUT. GOOD TIMES . DO NOT TAKE OUR 20 DAYS OF SCHOOL OUT WE NEED THEM THEY NEED IT. U ARE HURTING OUR KIDS AND TEACHER AND SCHOOLS. U TAKE THESE 20 DAYS OF SCHOOL THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE HARD TIME IN LEARNING AND GETTING THINGS DO LIKE SCHOOL WORK.
I CAN NOT TEACH MY KIDS WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW!! AND THE SCHOOLS CAN DO THAT FOR THEM. I AM GOING TO NEED TO PUT MY CHILD IN TUTORTING FOR HELP AND I KNOW I AM GOING TO TELL THEM TO GET ON THE COMPUTER CAUSE I CAN NOT HELP HELP WHAT THEY NEED HELP IN.
PLEASE KEEP OURS KIDS IN SCHOOLS AND TEACH THEM WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW AFTER SCHOOL.
KEEP OUR TEACHER AND DAYS AND SCHOOLS WE LOVE OUR KIDS DON’T U? WE LOVE OUR TEACHERS DON’T U? WE LOVE OUR SCHOOOLS! DON’T U?

I’m a mother and feel that our children of our future leaders should not suffer. Please pass a fair budget including tax extensions to protect the schools, colleges and public servicers from any further cuts.

I’m a mother of four, for me it’s totally wrong for the children to suffer without a good fight. They shoud be the first priority of a nation for they will be our future. I can’t understand why the government spend so much time and money on other things that are much less important that education. There should be “NO MORE FUNDING CUTS” for the schools, this will only create so much trouble in the long run. If kids get good education – this nation will surely rise again.

Ask your local school board to pass the school board resolution proposed by 25 Teachers’ Salaries. It’s on the website http://www.25TeachersSalaries.org under the “Campaign Documents” tab. This will bring publicity to the issue.
The average starting teachers’ salary in K – 12 California public schools is $40,000. The Department of Defense buys many bombs and missiles costing $1 million each (or more). The closest example is the Tomahawk cruise missile at $1.5 million each. Therefore each one of these missiles costs the equivalent of 25 teachers’ salaries for 1 year.

The school board resolution asks the California legislature to pass a joint resolution (also on our website) that asks Congress to pass America’s Weapons Rebate to Education Act, our bill, also on our website. That bill will provide fewer bombs and missiles and other weapons and a lot more teachers. It requires cuts in the weapons budget and the money saved to be sent to the states for paying salaries.

If 1% of the school districts in California were to do this, many of the others would follow. We have a complete “how to” guide for bringing our resolution to your school board and maximizing your chances of success.

This is how we build a massive campaign, through local and then state government.

after so long of being under the radar, early ed teachers are being placed on the chopping block and so far we have not received any information on any kind of assistance and representation. when will we included in what’s going on with our state of emergency. we teach and work hard at it also. please don’t forget about us.

i think we should stop having budget cuts for our childeren! the state has to leave out money for our schools!

we need to stop targeting our children by taking away there future we as people we ask that you look at other ways of cutting funds but it should not be looking at school as a target we need our children to get a really education they are our future we as parents we work really hard on focusing in our children’s education

Why is it always that the most important foundation of a child’s life is penalised time and again. Teachers in all walks of education are the real strength of a society. Why is it always that the State budget strikes the ‘Education’ first. Please stop axing the budget on schools and education and save our children and our society and the future of our nation……………..

The education of our youth is of the utmost importance!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our public school teachers are our most valuable assest. The very last thing we need is to cut in any aspect of our school system. Please reconsider any type of cut to our teachers and the days of attendance for our future. Without educated young people we won’t have a future.

Stop cuting the budget for are schools and are teachers if you laid off are teachers then are kids will end in gangs with no future are kids are the future stop distroying California ‘s Schools inted of spending the money on sending the money in the solders spend it in are kids educatuon in schools in are teachers because with out them we would not have Good jobs or become someone in the future.

I’m legal imigrant to this country and parent of two teenagers. when we firts came here , we knew that a big part of this great nation to be so strong was education , that’s what really makes a diference between here and other countries, but for the last three years i have been watching how this great dream is falling apart and we’re living our future generations with out any tools to keep this nation strong and better than others.
I think if we allow this, we all going to see a disfuntional system like any other countries in years to came.

Have you taken the message to facebook and other social media outlets? As a young mother of children in elementary school, I can tell you that I, and many other mothers like myself spend more time on neworking sites than any other. It would be a medium to get your message out to millions quickly and cheaply.

We are in Facebook! Join us at http://www.facebook.com/castateofemergency.

California is slashing funds for education and social services, while billions in prison spending remain untouched in the current budget. Once the world leader in higher education, we now spend more on incarceration than on our public universities.

We need to restore balance to our state. Sentencing reform is an integral part of the solution.

By reducing penalties for low level offenses, the governor and legislative leaders can redirect hundreds of millions of dollars toward our most pressing priorities – public schools and universities, social services and public safety.

Sign the petition, lets work together.
https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageNavigator/CN_petition

I am a parent of two children in elementary school in Elk Grove. I would like parents to have a day to protest at the Capitol in mass to tell the Legislators to do their job and pass the extension for us to vote or to pass it on their own. My son is in Kinder now where last year there was a 20:1 teacher/student ratio and now there is a 24:1 with a planned 30:1 ratio if inaction results. There are no teachers aides and it really is parent volunteers that are helping our fantastic teacher during the week. We don’t want a 30:1 ratio. Is there a parent group that I can join for a rally this week as part of this advocacy, because parents are serious about public education and we want to help our kids and our teachers maintain the current ratio? Legislators must do their job and not wait as the school cycle dictates an earlier cycle and must plan now. We can’t wait for a June 15th Budget deadline to be missed. All Legislators have public school students in their districts with parents that vote regularly. Can I work with someone to help organize something?

If there will be sharing of pictures via Twitter, then there should be some sort of #hashtag if one has not yet been created. It will allow all of us to follow that #hashtag and see all contributions but can be used for parents and other citizens to access this info, too. It also makes it easy for others not participating in the event to view this information and quickly share it as well. #EduSOE or something I suppose would work.

Just my two cents. (or is that less valuable these days, too?)

mc

We’re using #stateofemergency as the hashtag on twitter. (although, #edusoe would have been must smarter given character limits.)

Everyone should tell their friends and family to join in on this. Our teachers need your support.

Have you contacted the California School Library Association?
http://www.csla.net/
CA Schools have the worst library system in the entire country – largely because of budget cuts. However there is a huge correlation between school libraries and literacy. They keep cutting librarians and library staff. School library doors are closing. It’s a huge loss.

Raising taxes when that will result in companies and people leaving the State of California as they have left New York and other places when this has been done to pay for overspending is not wise. Live within your means and the most benefit will come about. Do otherwise and pay the price. You will lose. It is better to be wise and act wise.

we pay less taxes now than we did 40 years ago: http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2011-05-05-tax-cut-record-low_n.htm?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4dc45468819f5758%2C0

How about instead of raising taxes and enacting more legislation to drive businesses and taxpayers out of California state employees share the burden. Private sector employees don’t enjoy many of the benefits of government jobs. A slight cut in pay, share in the cost of healthcare and end the practice of a guaranteed pension would help. Our teachers are one of if not the highest paid in the country and the cost to house an inmate in this state is astronimical compared to others. Over the previous years this states spending increases has far exceeded it’s revenues. Sorry, but the money just isn’t there, plain and simple. Raising taxes will cause more jobs to be lost not saved, but then I know all the public union employees can only think about is themselves and not what is good for the entire state. It’s a shame!

Don T – you are mistaken on several points:
1. California educators have taken a pay cut to help schools balance their budgets. Don’t believe everything you read in the “media”. Ask a teacher!
2. California educators DO pay a share of the cost of their healthcare. They actually pay more now than ever before.
3. California educators pay 8% of their salaries each month into their pensions. It is their money that they earned.
4. Of course California educators earn more than teachers in other states. Cost of living in California is higher than other states.
5. When teachers look out for themselves and their schools, you say “they’re only thinking about themselves.” But when corporations only think about themselves (which is their general practice), we’re ok with that and we say “more tax breaks, we need to keep them here.” What’s wrong with this picture?!

i am 75 yers old my way of living is my s.s. i dont belong in the 1% scale if i pay taxes to send our boys to be kill or what ever!!!! i think i can pay taxes for our children in the school ; teachers are part of the solution to our national problems they teach to THINK !!!!!!! TO KNOW THAT THE EARTH IS NOT FLAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD HELP US FROM IGNORANCE

You tell Don that he is mistaken on several points, yet don’t actually refute them; you confirm that California’s teachers are the highest paid, note that teachers pay more into health care and pensions (which doesn’t refute whether those plans are superior to private-sector equivalents or not), and say that “But when corporations only think about themselves (which is their general practice), we’re ok with that”, which implies that it’s okay for public-sector employees to demand more and more money since big, nasty, greedy corporations do it too.
Which doesn’t give you the moral high ground in the first place, and ignores the fact that corporations aren’t funded by the taxpayers, but by their own ideas and capital.
Really, I’m not saying none of your points are false (although I’m very sceptical about that pension figure), but don’t say that someone is mistaken without actually providing evidence as to how and why.
Additionally, while I don’t put total faith in the media, I hope you don’t actually think an intelligent person is going to ask a teacher for an objective opinion on sweeping, massive budget cuts to education. You may as well interview British Petroleum on how bad massive oil spills really are.

Where do you get your info? Who says Teachers are highly paid? Do your homework please.

The
California Association of School Counselors created this video to help
advocate for school counselors. The video is very moving. If you
can, please pass on to everyone you know (family, friends, etc…).
Thank you for your support! Please watch and listen to what the kids
have to say. You can post on your facebook and tweet out too. This is
the link to the youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1cChaNcpWM&feature=youtu.be

Hi Priscilla,
I am curious about the link on Student Counseling, It wouldnt go there, can you email it to me or repost it. I work for the school district and would like to see it and pass it on. Thank you

It’s true, CTA is responsible for meeting the needs of teachers, not education… which is precisely the problem. A union whose interest lies in maximizing benefits to its members and blunting useful reform should be stripped of its political clout and leave education to the elected representatives responsible. It’s clear that CTA’s objectives lie in preserving the benefits of its members, not in California’s school system, much less the general welfare of California as a whole, which DEPENDS on putting our state finances in order. If we can’t take money from schools, the state’s largest budget item, where will it come from? More taxes? Californians already have a heavy tax burden, and I see no reason why taxpayers should bear all the consequences of our archaic and backwards education system (they already have to deal with it bringing up their children!).
If CTA can offer real solutions to the problems rather than outrage and exaggerated doom prophesizing, I’m willing to listen, but as for now they’re part of the problem, not the answer.

Ryan: your case relies on a number of inaccurate assumptions. CTA is dedicated to making California’s education system the best in the nation. Our members’ needs are meeting the needs of our students. Over the years, CTA agitation has boosted funding for schools and a lot more. Just recently, the organization pushed through the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) that targets schools whose students face the greatest challenges in meeting the state’s rigorous academic standards.

Educators know that a teacher’s top priority is meeting the needs of our students. But not everyone – especially those without children in public schools – have the first-hand experience to know that themselves.

Too bad more people aren’t aware of the fact that California’s per-pupil spending has fallen so dramatically that we’re fighting for 50th place among the states. That’s shameful.

No one ever went into teaching to get rich. What keeps people teaching is the hope they can make a difference.

Your commercials are ridiculous and mostly false and misleading. The CTA is largely responsible for the bloated educational system in this state. You folks feel that you should be immune to the economic conditions while the rest of us continue to pay you. Ridiculous.

@Raoul – CTA is responsible for serving educators and meeting their needs, NOT the entire educational system. To blame CTA for inefficiencies in the “bloated” system is very narrow minded and just untrue. It’s easy to point fingers and cast blame, much harder to make improvements and do the work that is needed. The ads are outrageous because the situation is outrageous – how does anyone expect us to educate kids when we are cutting the system to the bone?! When did we stop prioritizing our schools and when did we let partisan rancor become more important than educating school kids? ENOUGH!

We are not immune, not at all! Have you seen the cuts our schools have already faced the past few years? 20 billion!

SAN RAMON VALLEY’S ACTIVITIES DURING THE WEEK OF ACTION – MAY 9 – 13

Monday – Legislative Day – Wear Black Shirts
Letter writing campaign in collaboration with PTA – the letters are being provided to our staff from SRVEA and will be delivered to site reps this week.
Drop off boxes are available at all school sites as well as the district office. These letters will be hand delivered by our PTA leaders to the capital on Wednesday. Members are invited to attend, along with the SRVEA reps, our rep council meeting that will have “Action Stations”.
Letters can also be downloaded at: http://www.srvcouncilpta.org/Public/uploads/PTA%20Legislator%20Letters%204-25-11.doc

Tuesday – Educate Day – Wear White Shirts
PTA will be dropping off information around the schools.
Phone calls will be made by staff and parents to 5 people to educate about the budget. Dougherty Valley showing of “First to Worst”
Parents/staff will be passing out information prior to school, and standing on high traffic streets holding signs and banners. Fliers will be distributed in schools’ neighborhoods to educate the entire community.
Flash Mob – Grade in at Stoneridge Mall from 4-6. Wear Staff Spirit Wear.

Wednesday – Appreciation Day – Wear Spirit Wear
Student and/or staff letters written to allies of education in appreciation of their support. Bluebirds of Happiness templates and postcards available.
PTA will wear blue to express “we’re blue about the education funding situation”.
PTA rally on Camino Ramon – Bollinger in front of Bishop Ranch 2 at 5:00.

Thursday – Revenue Day – Wear Red Shirts
Promote the need for Revenue in our schools through leafleting and rallying at our schools and throughout the community.

Friday – Not Business as Usual – Wear our Blue “State of Emergency Shirts”
Join people from all over the Bay Area at the regional rally at the United Nations – Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco from 4-6.rt
Ride Bart. Bart schedules have been provided to SRVEA Reps.

Other activities –
A “State of Emergency” Pod –Cast delivered to SRVEA’s Website and San Ramon Valley’s District Website on Monday, May 9 to be on display all week.
Some schools are following the “Work to Rule”.
A group of educators will be taking over the State Capitol.

Our regional Rally is at the San Francisco Civic Center Plaza on Friday, May 13. Supporters are gathering at 4:00 p.m., with speakers starting at 5:00. There aren’t a lot of resources for purchase, but templates for fliers, signs, etc. are available on this site’s Resources Page. See you in the City!

Hi MaryMelissa – please contact your local site rep who should have all this informaiton. You can order a tshirt (probably best in bulk maybe for your group) from: http://ctastore.ynipstore.com/home/. Once you know the information about the SF rally, please share it on our events page!

When is the civic center rally in San Francisco ? time ? What resources are available to order ? do you have a good quality sweatshirt with the learn acronym or state of emergency ? Please offer enough and include adult size small. Isn’t it time these things existed ?

http://www.trivalleydems.com/BearButton3inches.pdf
is a design template for 3 inch buttons –
DON’T MESS WITH CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS, momma bear in the background. This is my original art for you to use at no charge.

Similarly use this article
http://calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=13355&view=print
A union guy, a bear and Grover Norquist walk into a bar