Education Cuts

I'm a 10th-grader at Belmont High School and I'm really upset about cutting teachers' salaries. We don't want teachers to work so hard and to get paid less money. All of my teachers are very upset about that. All of my teachers feel demoralized because of their salaries being cut. In addition, all of my classes are getting larger. Before, there were about 35 students in each class. Now, there are about 45 or more. All of my friends are upset too. We walked from the school to City Hall to protest.

Re "A new formula for algebra," editorial, Oct. 31 Thank you for the clear and informative editorial that makes such an excellent case for rescinding the eighth-grade algebra requirement. When I heard there would be more education cuts, I wondered how Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state Board of Education were going to justify keeping the mandate. My two children are both taking algebra, but one is in middle school and the other is in high school. They are learning algebra at the right time for each of them.

The two top candidates running for California lieutenant governor traded accusations of pampering criminal illegal immigrants and slashing public school funding in a debate Thursday that added a dash of drama to what has otherwise been a little-noted race. Democrat Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, set the tone at the outset when he blamed his opponent, GOP Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, for casting the key vote for a state budget that produced the "biggest tax increase in California history and the biggest education cuts in California history.

Surprise. Surprise. A student uprising at San Diego State University. The first visible signs were not much--six of us at a mid-April noon vigil in front of the library, with recycled anti-war-in-the-Gulf signs. "Cease Fire" had become "Cease Firing," a reference to more than 500 part-time faculty who would not be teaching at SDSU in the fall. Classes would be cut, in some departments by 50%. No one paid much attention: Same group that protested the war, what could they want now?

Whatever happened to Occupy Wall Street? Are you folks still out there? Yes, the economy seems to be improving and thus the power of your message has been slightly blunted. But as a political force that could rally the nation on behalf of the 99%, who tend not to contribute huge sums to campaigns and so have less influence than their numbers deserve, you're still badly needed. In Los Angeles and nationwide, there are still sputtering signs that the Occupy movement hasn't disappeared.

The Senate, in its first vote on the fiscal 1987 budget, demonstrated its intent to reject President Reagan's spending priorities by overwhelmingly turning down his request to terminate more than 40 federal programs. In another indication that the Republican-led Senate plans to chart an independent course on the budget, it also voted Wednesday to restore education funds previously cut under the Gramm-Rudman budget-balancing law.

An estimated 2,500 people or more descended on the San Fernando Valley offices of state legislators Tuesday as part of a statewide effort to encourage lawmakers to raise taxes to pay for education. Most were members of a group known as the Unusual Coalition, which included teachers, union leaders, students, administrators, support personnel and parents.

Gov. Gray Davis is set to unveil a state budget today that slightly increases school spending, but still requires $487 million in education cuts to cover the rising cost of teaching public school students. Most areas of state government are not expected to fare even that well.

The Los Angeles Unified School District announced Thursday it is canceling the bulk of its summer school programs, the latest in a statewide wave of cutbacks expected to leave hundreds of thousands of students struggling for classes. The reductions, which will force many parents to scramble for child care, are the most tangible effect of the multibillion-dollar state financial cuts to education. Community colleges also have announced summer program cancellations.