Prop 30 supporters reach out to voters

Coachella valley teachers, school support staff, college faculty, and retired educators joined together in a massive get out the vote effort.

“It’s a scary proposition. If 30 doesn’t pass, I just don’t know what will happen,” special education teacher Angela Tenneriello said.

Supporters of Proposition 30, a major education initiative to stop school cuts, took to the streets, and to the phones, to get the word out.

“If Prop 30 fails, public school budgets across the state will be cut to the tune of 6 billion dollars, in addition to what they’ve already been cut in the last several years,” high school teacher Tom Burbank said.

Prop 30 supporters say budget cuts hurt every aspect of the classroom, starting with students.

“If you have a classroom that’s supposed to only have 30 kids and you put 40 in it, the level of teacher/student interaction drops. It drops, no matter what you do. I teach special ed, those classes are generally smaller. They’re getting bigger,” Tenneriello said.

Cuts affect teachers, too.

“When you have a caseload that went from 150 to 275, the grading and everything gets harder, and less attentive,” Tenneriello said.

Supporters of prop 30 are also here to oppose another proposition that they say is not what it seems.

Proposition 32 would prohibit unions from making payroll deductions to raise money for political spending.

“We’re encouraging voters to vote no because this is simply an attempt to take any power that teachers have to participate in the voting process,” Burbank said.

According to Prop 30 supporters, whether you have a child in the school system or not, you benefit from schools with balanced budgets.

“You’re going to put students out that can go on to high school, to a continuing education, and become professional in the job environments. You’re making sure everyone can read and write,” Tenneriello said.

Prop 30 is facing fierce opposition from those who say there’s no guarantee the revenue will be used for education. We’ll take a closer look at that argument with Prop 32 on Sunday.