A new letter

From Support CA Kids:

Dear (Contact First Name),

This past Monday, March 15, layoff notices were mailed to approximately 22,000 California teachers and support staff. In the Elk Grove Unified School District alone, this translates into about 16 teachers per elementary campus, or between 1/3 and 1/2 of the campus staff. Layoffs at the secondary level not only include teaching staff, but also all secondary counseling positions, librarians and library techs, and office personnel. Unless the Legislature takes prompt action to make education a priority in the July 1 budget, these layoffs will "stand". Turning in a late budget last year forced schools to wait until the first day of classes to try to reinstate teachers and class schedules.

Understandably, March 15 was called Black Monday. However, on that same day, incoming State Assembly Speaker John Perez approved pay increases totaling $132,000 per year to his staff. On the previous Friday, outgoing Speaker Karen Bass "rewarded" 20 of her ex-staff members with 10% pay increases as she left. While some legislators have turned down pay increases or asked staff to take pay cuts, none of the legislative staff have been furloughed. See the article at http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/16/2609675/california-assembly-speaker-oks.html. The timing of Perez' announcement indicates a lack of awareness of voter priorities in this state, and begs the question - do they even know or care about the current crisis in education funding?

To add insult to injury, also on Monday the Governor's Senior Advisor Herb Schultz wrote a cover letter to the U.S. Department of Education to "express disappointment" over California's failure to receive a federal Race to the Top (RTTT) education grant and to resubmit California's application for the grant in the second round. He sharply criticizes the education community and parent advocacy groups for "standing in the way" of securing this grant by making allegations that question the state's commitments to education under the Quality of Education Investment Act (QEIA), or Proposition 98 implementation. Indeed, the education community has been crying foul about the ways in which the state has been "redefining" its commitments under Proposition 98: the difference between saying "total state revenues" vs. "total revenues available to the state" can affect the basis on which the state pays schools by millions. However, to blame that education community for calling attention to the fact that there is a crisis in California is like blaming a drowning man for crying for help.



What can we do?
Call Speaker Perez at (916) 319-2046 and express your profound disappointment. As Speaker, Perez now theoretically represents all Californians. Speaker Perez gave and announced these raises on a date where 22,000 of his California constituents found out that, as of July 1, they would be unemployed.

Identify yourself as a concerned parent, caregiver, or educator;

Ask his staff member to pass a message on to him:

* Demand that he take steps to bring the salaries and benefits of all legislative staff, starting with his own, into proportion with the rest of the California economy.
* Express your strong disappointment that, on his first day in office, he has indicated a disregard for the fiscal realities of the state that seems cruelly ironic in light of the drastic budget reductions impacting students and educators statewide.
* Assure him that you will be watching the actions of the Legislature, and that, as a voter and taxpayer, you want to see them set aside the interests of those who would profit from education and instead act for the real benefit of the majority of the students.


Background:

The salary increase being given to Perez' top staffer reflects a pay raise of $65,000/year plus benefits, or more money than most teachers make in a year. The compensation package legislative staff receive includes generous benefits and a typical monthly pension for retirement at age 55 in excess of $5000 a month for anyone currently earning over $125K. Perez will argue that ex-Speaker Bass paid her assistant $190K, and that he is merely giving his assistant a comparable salary. However, many highly qualified and hard-working Californians have been laid off and replaced by new workers hired at a much lower incoming salary.

104 legislative staff earn in excess of $125,000 per year (excluding benefits) or more than the legislators they work for. (http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/07/2589925/highest-paid-california-legislative.html)

Letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger and the CA Legislature: Draft 1

Since learning that my school district would be pink slipping 1,000 employees, I've been pretty ticked off. And since learning that the number was jumping to some 1,100 employees INCLUDING ME!!!, I've been livid! I've been working on a letter in my head to the boneheads running this once great state of California, but all I can come up with is the following.

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger & Legislature of California,

You suck! Fix it!

Angrily yours,
Corinne S.
6-year teacher

I know it's not the most tactful letter, but I can't come up with anything else at the moment. I'm too angry. I'll continue to work on drafts. I encourage you (all 2 of my readers) to do the same.