AI

It doesn’t matter whether you’re in a red state or a blue state, we’re facing the same attacks on public education. Corporate Democrats are getting money from the same billionaires and corporations as the Republicans, so essentially all public educators in this country are targets.

California is a deep blue state and our schools have drastically deteriorated. It’s actually astonishing when you think about it: Our state is the fifth richest economy in the world, but we’re forty-third out of fifty in the US when it comes to per-pupil spending. And our class sizes are the forty-eighth largest in the country.

It really pains me to see what’s happened over the years. I’ve seen these cuts with my own eyes and have three generations of my family attending LAUSD schools. I grew up in Los Angeles, and I remember in the sixties when our schools were at the top in per-pupil spending. Over the years, so many crucial programs like auto mechanics, home economics, drivers education, music, art, drafting, and more have been eliminated from the curriculum because of the funding cuts and because standardized testing has become so prominent.

We have the money in California for an amazing school system — we have the most billionaires of any state in the country. But we also have the most inequality.

Prop 13 [a regressive 1978 cap on property taxes] is a big part of the reason why our schools are defunded. We’ve been ripped off. The rich have stolen billions through corporate tax loopholes, well over $5 billion a year. And the corporate Democrats have taken the lead in promoting the charter school model and therefore supporting the privatization of our schools.

Governor Brown has brought a more equitable funding model for public schools, but he hasn’t taken action to stop charters — in fact, he has two charter schools of his own. And California has one of the worst charter laws in the country.

Our problems in a blue state like California aren’t just about funding cuts. The cost of living here in LA is astronomical; lots of our teachers won’t ever be able to afford to buy a home. Since 2008, the cost of living in LA has increased by 27 percent. Just last Wednesday I was talking to a union member who has three jobs, but he still can’t find an affordable home with his new wife.

And all the over-testing in recent years has taken away from teaching a full curriculum. We need less testing and more teaching, because LA students receive literally one hundred tests from TK [transitional kindergarten] through the sixth grade — and most of these are not state mandated.