by Carmen Ramirez

On March 11, we will hear about the consequences for education in the current California budget.

Glenston Thompson, the Chief Business Official for the Oxnard School District will discuss the impact that the budget will have on 15,400 students, their families and the teachers and staff of the district. Dr. Renny Christopher, Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs, at Cal State University Channel Islands will discuss the challenges to higher education in California and specifically to our local university.

“Our public schools play a fundamental role in the community. The responsibility to properly educate our children and prepare them for the future has never been more daunting. …The fact that California spends $1,900 less per pupil than the national average is shameful. When comparing California to the other 49 states in our great nation, California ranks 47th out of 50 based on per pupil spending. That’s a ranking where being number 50 is the worst. Could it be that we will rank 50th out of 50 in 2009-2010 school year? Hard to believe when our state is in and of itself the 8th largest economy in the world. With the release of Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget for 2009-2010, we could end up spending our already limited and strained resources begging for funds for our 15,400 students. Why? “We have 15,400 reasons to demand their rightful priority in the infrastructure of our state” from Oxnard Interim Superintendent, Janis Duran.

From California State University Chancellor Charles B. Reed: “ [T]he California State University will face an increasingly challenging fiscal situation over the next 17 months and beyond as a result of the budget package passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger… The budget reduces state general fund support to the CSU for the current fiscal year, 2008-09, by $97.6 million, and calls for an additional $66.3 million cut for 2009-10. Overall, the reduction places CSU $283 million below its operational needs, or approximately 10 percent. Also, the 2009-10 budget includes an additional $50 million cut to the CSU, depending on the size and scope of the federal stimulus package. This will impact our ability to maintain quality and services for our 450,000 current students, and we have already been forced to reduce incoming student enrollment levels for this fall.”

Come and learn about our situation and what we can do about it.