Bang the drums for more school funds
It’s back to school next week for most children in the neighborhood as summer is coming to an end. We talked to the three principals of the local public elementary schools for our back to school front-page story and while all three were positive about additional programs available at their schools, one recurrent theme was that there isn’t enough money to go around. The local PTA groups, as Principal Barry Yates of Juan Cabrillo said, have become fundraising entities to supplement the state’s shortfall in funding for school supplies, labs, specialists etc.
As Phil Cott of Webster points out, the arts are usually the first to go in schools. Again, the PTA steps in to help.
A RAND report last year showed California education expenditures and student achievement spiraling from first to last place in the nation over the years.
It is something that needs to be fixed.
Some try to make up the budget shortfall in education spending by pushing through school bonds. Others, like the PTA and Malibu High School’s Shark Fund, try to do so through smaller fundraising efforts.
In the end, it’s the state that needs to step up to the plate.
Although Gov. Schwarzenegger last year promised to increase education spending by $3 billion (Los Angeles Daily News, Nov. 2005), and added another $1.7 billion more earlier this year (San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 4), teacher’s unions and education officials say the state is owed more than $5.5 billion in cuts from the past several years. In a court-approved settlement in June, the Schwarzenegger administration and the California Teacher’s Association agreed to direct $2.9 million owed to a new program. The agreement would be enacted with the signing of SB 1133, which the governor is expected to sign this Thursday. However, this agreement would not include all schools or school districts.
In the meantime, Measure BB, a $268 million school bond, will be on the local November Ballot. A couple of Malibu residents have signed the opposition statement to the bond, and one has signed in favor of it (which doesn’t mean there are not more Malibu residents opposed or for the measure, since an argument can only have up to five signatures).
Whether one agrees to new bonds and taxes or not, something needs to done-at the higher level of government, and the lower levels of government and with community activism.
And there is the community activism, with local administrators, parents and teachers constantly banging the drums, organizing silent auctions, fairs and other fundraising ideas to make sure their children are receiving the education they deserve. But they need more help.
In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be reporting on the Malibu High Shark Fund, which last year raised $435,000 to offset an $870,000 shortfall in last year’s school budget, and their goals and needs for this year.
Two things that Shark Fund organizers always repeat they need: citizens and parents to help out not only financially, but also with their time and effort for fundraising activities.