Education Advocates Protest School Budget Cuts

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s May revision to the proposed state budget is drawing sharp criticism, and that anger was on display all across the state Wednesday, as the spotlight turned to education.

On Friday, the governor proposed billions of dollars of more cuts to education, and students, parents, teachers and staff are urging the governor to table the cuts.

Dozens of protesters showed up at the College of the Desert campus in Palm Desert for the rally. It was one of more than 35 “Save our Schools” events held throughout the state. There were four others going on in the Riverside County, the biggest one in Riverside.

California Advocates United to Save Education, launched by the California School Employees Association, is the new grassroots group that organized the rallies.

According to the CSEA, Schwarzenegger is proposing $2.4 billion in cuts to education for 2011, and that’s after the governor and the Legislature signed a budget agreement into law last July, of which protesters say the governor is now backing out.

Local education advocates also asked state lawmakers sign a “Promise to Our Students” pledge, which guarantees a promise not to back out of the July agreement. Organizers will announce Wednesday night which lawmakers broke their promise, and which ones kept their word.

The CSEA reports that the state Legislature has cut more than $17 billion in education over the past two years.

Organizers also accuse the legislature of ignoring Proposition 98, which requires a guaranteed minimum for school funding grades K-14.

It also guarantees an annual increase in education in the California budget. But, after years of cuts, those in protest believe that law has been tossed aside.