Report card for The Education Coalition: B

The Education Coalition, a group of more than 1.7 million parents, teachers, school board members, school employees and administrators in California, are opposed to massive education budget cuts. The Coalition does an excellent job of informing concerned citizens of exactly what’s going on. Their website constantly refers to the facts that show the detriment about to affect California if the budget passes:

• Shutting down every school across the state for 34 days.

• Increasing class sizes statewide by over 50%.

• Reducing per-student spending by more than $1,600.

• Laying off a quarter of a million bus drivers, janitors, food service workers, maintenance workers, and other education support professionals.

• Laying off 140,000 teachers.

• Cutting more than $41,000 per classroom.

• Eliminating all music, art and career technical education programs statewide with room to cut even more.

For that, they get an A for effort.

One thing the coalition could benefit from is focusing more on the implications of the proposed budget cuts and the values attached to education. Making it clear that reduced education spending means children aren’t as prepared for college, tuition costs will rise making it harder for students to obtain higher education, children won’t get the attention they deserve with even larger class sizes, children that need special attention will fall even further behind and almost half a million Californians will be out of work—thus affecting their families as well. Education cuts mean a harder future for all children and less opportunities for success.