By Kristen Munson and Marilyn Dubil – Staff Writers
Morgan Hill
– Teachers from across Santa Clara County rallied in Sacramento
Wednesday as part of a statewide protest against Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget reforms and special elections.
By Kristen Munson and Marilyn Dubil – Staff Writers
Morgan Hill – Teachers from across Santa Clara County rallied in Sacramento Wednesday as part of a statewide protest against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget reforms and special elections.
Twenty–two Gilroy Unified School District teachers made the trip to Sacramento and several others joined a local rally in Morgan Hill.
According to AP reports, an estimated 10,000 protesters flocked to the Capitol toting signs and banners in the 95-degree heat.
“It was so crowded we couldn’t even hear what the speakers were saying,” said Michelle Nelson, president of the Gilroy Teachers Association.
Thousands of other unionized employees including nurses, firefighters and police joined the demonstration in opposition to Schwarzenegger’s call for special elections that would include a measure to prevent union dues from being used for political purposes.
“It was a chance for people to get together and show that we’re all interested in the same goal,” Nelson said.
One of those goals is fully funding Proposition 98, which guarantees a minimum level of state funding for education. About 40 percent of the revenue of the state’s general fund goes towards education funding.
Last year, the governor temporarily suspended half of the $4 billion allocated in Prop 98 funding during a budget crisis under the premise that the funding would be continued this year and suspended monies replaced over time.
However, the $2 billion was not included in this year’s Prop 98 funding, which has educators believing Schwarzenegger backpeddled on his promise.
He has proposed using the surplus funds to pay off the state’s debt.
“In order for California to remain the great state that it is, we have to have a well-educated populus,” said Kara Armijo, a counselor at Brownell Academy.
As a plane circled overhead with a banner reading “Arnold, California’s Not For Sale,” Armijo carried a sign that read “Kids Not Cuts.”
Teachers from El Roble, Las Animas, Glen View, Antonio Del Buono, Mt. Madonna and Gilroy High School made the trip to Sacramento for the 4pm rally.
“It’s nice to be around other people who support your point of view and to feel that collective energy – knowing that we’re all fighting the good fight,” Armijo said.
Gilroy teachers who couldn’t attend the rally in Sacramento were encouraged to go to one held in Morgan Hill.
“This was a chance for … teachers to get the word out,” Nelson said.
A crowd of more than 200 teachers and classified workers, joined by a handful of students, parents, firefighters and Morgan Hill School Board trustees gathered in front of Britton Middle School to make known their frustration known.
The rally, organized by the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers (MHFT), was arranged to coincide with statewide “Lobby Day.”
The Morgan Hill rally began with marches down Monterey Road from Britton through downtown, with protesters carrying signs and noisemakers. Much of the passing traffic honked their horns and yelled support for the marchers.
“The children always should come first,” Maintenance and Grounds Foreperson Peter McKenna said. “What the governor is proposing, that does not put our children first.”
MHFT President Donna Foster said she was pleased with the turnout at the rally. She said she thought it was “exciting, a show of real unity,” that so many Service Employee International Union members showed up.
The union is upset, Foster said, that the governor has reneged on his promise to fully fund Prop 98, which was approved by voters. Education officials, including State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, said Schwarzenegger promised to “refund” the $2 billion he “borrowed.”
The unions are also concerned about proposals to tamper with employee pensions, teacher tenure and to contract out certain services.
“You don’t expect, when you go into teaching, to be compensated in a manner commiserate with corporate employees, you accept that,” said Sobrato High School teacher Christina Filios. “But what many people don’t realize, when they talk about our retirement, our pensions, is that we do not qualify for Social Security.”
State public employees and union members are upset about comments by Schwarzenegger calling them the “monster that must be fed” and educators are upset about his assertion they were lying about the Prop 98 agreement.
The rally ended with speeches by Foster, School Board Trustee Peter Mandel and others.
