Californians to Occupy the State Legislature: Report

The crisis in education funding is showing itself in California, but students and workers there are fighting back against Draconian budget and program cuts along with tuition increases.







from < socialistworker.org > --



A show of resistance against education cuts
Melissa Cornelius and Michael Fiorentino report on plans for protests in California.

March 1, 2012


California students march against corporatization and cuts to public higher education (Steve Rhodes)
THOUSANDS OF California students, teachers and faculty, and community members will begin a series of protests March 1 against cuts in education spending, culminating with demonstrations in Sacramento on March 5 and a plan to occupy the state Capitol building.

The case for protesting couldn't be stronger. California is now 46th in spending on public education. The K-12 system has been ravaged by the budget crisis. K-3 class sizes in 16 of the state's 30 largest districts increased from 20 students to 25 between 2009 and 2011--and that's on top of cuts to special services and the arts.

Meanwhile, college students are being priced out of access to quality public education, and faculty and staff are undergoing pay cuts and layoffs. Tuition at the 10 campuses in the University of California (UC) system has more than doubled since 2000, while classes and even whole majors have been cut out.

"The thousands of people who will occupy the Capitol with a People's Assembly will put grassroots democracy in action," said Charlie Eaton, financial secretary of United Auto Workers Local 2865 and a sociology graduate student at UC Berkeley.

Eaton talked about the plans for the days of action, which include promoting an initiative of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) for a "millionaire's tax" to raise taxes on the rich:

We'll have the debate we really need about who should pay to refund jobs, education, essential services and a better world. We'll debate the real alternatives like the 'millionaire's tax' for a budget that makes the 1 percent pay. And we'll talk about how that money should be used from the bottom up to reverse tuition hikes and cuts.

Students are being pushed to the edge by the cutbacks and spiraling costs of education.

I'm in default on $27,000 in debt owed to San Francisco State University. And I have no degree to show for it. Collection agencies hired by the state are threatening to garnish my already poverty-level wages.

What's wrong with the people who run California? This state's public universities used to be free, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to afford to finish my education now.

Students at the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system have seen tuition and fees soar from just under $2,000 in 2000 to more than $6,000 today.

Meanwhile, wages and benefits for instructors have stagnated. In response, the California Faculty Association is considering a one-day, system-wide general strike. Faculty members already participated in a one-day strike in November at CSU-East Bay and CSU-Dominiguez Hills.

Community colleges are also getting hammered. They are cutting classes that help a significant segment of the working class, such as English as a Second Language, parenting and vocational programs.

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http://socialistworker.org/2012/03/01/resistance-against-education-cuts