Counting Students Saved and Coming Through

November 11, 2003

Dear Editor,

Two months ago, on September 4, my children and I felt the normal excitement and trepidation of the first day of school. We were grateful for this trepidation because it meant we, and thousands of other families in our community, were spared the horrifying anxiety of entering a school whose funding had been slashed, programs eliminated, and teachers fired. Community residents and City Council members who voted to increase funding to schools last June granted us the gift of normalcy for this year. Thousands of strangers gave us this gift, strangers whom we can never properly thank.

Everyone agrees that the State should fund education. But 25 years of Prop. 13 have caused California to cut education funding so severely that we have dropped from among the top five states in the nation for achievement and per student spending to among the bottom ten. With an unprecedented state budget deficit facing us now, it seems certain that additional cuts to education funding are coming. While the state may have the responsibility to fund education, it is a responsibility they are abdicating.

For many in California, public education is a last resort. I believe it is our last chance. When the children in my son’s kindergarten class come of age, they will be the decision-makers for our generation. The child whose education we shortchange today will become the adult ill-prepared for the complexities of tomorrow.

The horrible trade-off that a love affair with public education carries is the knowledge that right around the corner lurks the next funding crisis. For many California districts the crippling funding crisis has already come -- the one which forces cuts so severe that the integrity of education collapses.

Classes are so overcrowded that teachers can do little more than control traffic. Programs are slashed. Supplies are inadequate. Morale is shot. Hope is gone. Santa Monica and Malibu, thankfully, are not there -- yet. But we could have been had Measure S failed and the Cities of Malibu and Santa Monica had not voted to increase funding to school.

Last year, we faced our crippling funding crisis. 207 employees including more than 90 teachers were pinkslipped. Music, PE and library would be slashed. Class sizes would increase dramatically. It would have been the end of integrity and hope for Santa Monica and Malibu schools. Instead, the community rallied and chose to tax itself rather than allow education to crumble.

The moment I stepped into my son’s third-grade class on September 4 and saw 20 students instead of the 30 that would have been there had Measure S failed, I was filled with emotion. I started to scan the students, most of whom I knew from my years of volunteering in the classrooms and listed in my mind the students who would likely lose their love for learning had we not secured additional education funding. Then I realized, I was counting students saved by Measure S.

Each Santa Monica and Malibu resident who voted Yes on S last June is responsible for saving those students who might not have made it through the year with a 30 to 1 ratio. Each Santa Monica and Malibu City Council member who voted to increase funding to education should feel confident that their vote strengthened their community! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your commitment to children, to education and to our cities.

Yours gratefully,

Rebecca Kennerly
Long-time Santa Monica resident and District parent

November 10, 2003

Dear Editor,

Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS) is dedicated to high quality education for every child. We believe ongoing and stable local funding is essential to protect the quality of our public schools.

Last June, Santa Monica and Malibu voters responded to crippling California state budget cuts to education by passing Measure S, a school funding measure. In addition, the City Councils of Santa Monica and Malibu responded to this crisis by increasing their contributions to schools.

These combined increased revenues did not make up the entire deficit caused by state budget cuts, however they were enough for Santa Monica and Malibu schools to maintain core curriculum, class size levels, preserve more than 150 jobs including 90 teacher positions, and even improve upon the district's already high levels of achievement.

We are grateful and proud that our community came through for our students. Thank you!

Louise Jaffe and Shari Davis
Community for Excellent Public Schools, Co-chairs

November 10, 2003

Dear Editor,

As parents of two children who are in the Santa Monica-Malibu school district, my husband and I would like to lend our voices to those giving thanks to the members of the community and the city council who rallied to support public education this past spring.

With the passage of Measure S and the city's increased contribution to the schools, both of our children, who have been in the Santa Monica-Malibu district since kindergarten, are continuing to reap the benefits bestowed by an exceptionally fine school district.

In particular, we are thankful that teachers who had been pink-slipped were retained. One case in point at Lincoln Middle School, where our daughter is a 7th grader, is that of Ron Vieira, a humanities and French teacher, who relocated here from Canada. On the day escrow closed on Ron's new house, he received his pink slip!

Fortunately for all concerned, Ron has been retained. He has been instrumental in bringing a new pilot program of student-led conferences to Lincoln, where students invite their parents to school and lead a conference in which the students evaluate their progress, set goals and develop strategies for themselves.

Ron initiated this program at Lincoln based upon its success at his former school district in Canada where he had seven years experience with the program and found that it fostered increased student accountability and parental connection with the school. And Ron is just one of many other fine teachers who were
pink-slipped but ultimately retained, such as Nathaniel Stauffer and Darin Goulet, both of whom taught my daughter last year.

We also are thankful that the a.m. period has been retained, giving our children a better chance of fitting into their schedules not only required courses, but those of particular interest to them.

If we continue to pull together as a community to support our schools, hopefully we will spare our teachers and administrators, who give so much to our kids, the demoralization which most certainly comes with the pink-slip.

Sincerely,
Libby Pachares
Santa Monica