Thanks so much for the support everyone :) I'm confident things will work out!
Since I'm in the midst of it all, I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some information about an "event" being held across the state, "Pink Friday." This Friday, educators along with individuals who support public education are encouraged to wear pink - in support of the thousands of "pink slips" that will be issued to teachers by the March 13th deadline. At this point, 19,099 teachers have been given pink slips (so I'm certainly in good company...)
Here are some staggering facts: (courtesy of www.pinkfriday09.org)
California ranks 47th in the nation in per-pupil spending
California has the 7th largest economy in the world
An $11.6 billion cut to K-12 schools is the equivalent of laying off 165,714 teacher, OR 290,000 custodians, bus drivers and other classified employes, OR closing California schools for 40 days, OR increasing class size by 55 percent
Community colleges will be cut by more than $230 million
California university budgets will be cut by 10%
Obviously there's a problem with the current solution to get money from the state by cutting the education budget. The students aren't going anywhere, and they need their teachers, those who take care of the school, the current school year, and their class sizes.
If you're up for it, help support educators with Pink Friday!
3 comments:
Sorry to hear Addy. I hope things workout. Two Mondays ago I went to a town hall meeting about San Francisco's budget cuts and was saddened to hear all about the programs that were affected. I hate hearing about the ones affecting children and the people who take care and educate them, like cuts in education.
It's absolutely insane the way schools are funded in the state. It all started with Prop 13, which made the state responsible for the cost of educating rather than local entitites...maybe good for equalizing spending across all districts (rich and poor alike...but what does it matter if all districts get so little...)
My opinion is to do something about the amount of money that is spent on TESTING!!! I was a site testing coordinator last year, and I may never get over the number of boxes, testing booklets, manipulatives (for special ed), answer documents, personnel, shipping, handline, time, administrative overhead costs, etc, etc, etc that goes into the NCLB, federally mandated, state funded, testing boondoggle. It was INSANE...I say: cut testing for a year, that'd save millions, but nobody talks about THAT..(oh don't get me started...)
So I was stumbling around various photos in my house and I saw some pictures of a certain cruise I once took... And then, on a whimsical fancy, I found this wonderfully written blog.
That aside, I hope things work out for you both financially and physically. You always were a tough nugget, I have full confidence in you.
-Zach Loeser
(my dad sometimes still bugs me about having to bang on my cabin wall to get our group to shut up)
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