Local teachers, administrators and parents off to Sacramento

By Leigh Ann Maze

When the buses and cars leave local schools on May 8, for Sacramento, it won't be for a government field trip. The buses and cars will be full not with students but with Los Gatos, Saratoga and San Jose teachers, administrators, school board members and parents who want to send legislators and Gov. Gray Davis a clear message--California schools need more money.

In Sacramento, local school supporters will be joined by about 10,000 others from around the state who plan to rally on the steps of the State Capital.

The demonstrators want to raise state funding for California schools, now at 41st in the nation, to the national average. "Right now we are $1,100 below the national average in per student spending. And it shows in our old, overcrowded and beat-up facilities," said Joe Bolin, a teacher at Blossom Hill School in Los Gatos and president of the Los Gatos Education Teachers Association. Bolin has been instrumental in rallying people to go to Sacramento.

Bolin said he will be joined on the bus by at least one teacher from each of the five schools in the Los Gatos Union School District, as well as an administrator from the LGUSD district office and, possibly, a LGUSD board member. Bolin hopes to get as many parents from the LGUSD to go as he can. "We hope to have 50 people going from just our little town," Bolin said.

Representatives from the Saratoga Unified School District will carpool to Sacramento for the rally. Julie Shultz, a teacher at Redwood Middle in Saratoga and president of the Saratoga Teacher's Association also will go. She will be joined by at least three members of the SUSD board of trustees, SUSD superintendent Mary Gardner and several parents representing groups such as the Saratoga Education Foundation and the School Site Council. Shultz said the SUSD hopes at least one teacher from each of the three elementary schools in the district will go, as well.

With at least one teacher absent from every public school in Los Gatos and Saratoga and many more throughout the area, substitutes will be few and far between. Because of the shortage of substitutes and because it is hard for teachers to miss class, most schools will only be able to spare one teacher. LGUSD and SUSD plan to use substitutes and combine classes, if necessary, for the last three hours on the day when the teachers are gone. Teachers will help out other teachers.

"It's definitely worth it," Shultz said about the planned teacher absences. "We used to have the best education in the country and now we're 41st. We need to let the legislators know that this needs to be a priority."

Although it puts an extra strain on local schools, most administrators are in favor of it. "I think it's important that the governor understand we're all united and committed to improving education in California," said Wendy Wardlow, principal at Blossom Hill School.

The rally was organized and is mainly sponsored by the California Teacher's Association. The rally also has been sponsored by the California Parent Teacher's Association, the Association of California School Administrators and the California School Boards Association.

The state estimates a surplus of $6 to $10 billion over the next two years, according to Sandy Harrison, assistant director of the state of California department of finance. Teachers are hoping this rally will funnel some of the money into education. According to Bolin, California schools need about $35 million to get them up to the national average for one year. And they need the money consistently and with no strings attached, Bolin said.

If they succeed, the rally will result not only in more money for California schools, but also a lesson in democracy for all involved.

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