Democrats Say They’ll Fight for Public Education and Its Teachers

As the threat of deeper education cutbacks looms ahead, the talk of the La Mesa-Foothills Democratic Club meeting Wednesday focused on schools and a pledge to fight the negative perception facing public education.

“We will eventually recover economically,” said Camille Zombro, vice president of the teachers union who is in her 17th year as a public educator. “We will eventually find a way to fund our schools. But what can’t easily be repaired is the systematic undermining of the public’s confidence in public education.”

Zombro was one of four panelists to be featured at this month’s club meeting, along with newly elected school board members Kevin Beiser and Mary Kay Rosinski, as well as Sharon Jones of the San Diego County Board of Education.

The general lack of faith Zombro is referring to could be a cue people are taking from the state of California directly, which lags in the nation’s education spending and staffing levels in public schools.

“California ranked 44 out of 50 for K-12 spending per student,” said Jay Steiger, vice president of legislation for the Helix Council of PTAs and the evening’s moderator. “And it ranked 50th in the nation for the number of students per teacher.”

Steiger drew some audible sighs when he shared statistics collected by California Budget Project, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the fiscal and policy analysis of public schools, which stated California’s average number of students per teacher last year was 21, compared to the national average of 14.

In addition to plump classroom sizes, CBP also stated California spent about $2,500 less per student than the rest of the United States during the 2009-10 fiscal year. The organization said that in order for the state to reach the same level of spending as the rest of the nation, it would’ve had to increase its expenditures by nearly 30 percent, or $15.4 billion.

As a result of the stark differences presented, panelists were asked how they dealt with such financial deficiencies at their particular institution.

“We give options,” said Rosinski, who represented the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District. “Essentially we ask: ‘How do you want to take the pain?’ It could be in furlough days, or taking less in benefits. There’s a number of ways to do it.”

But the topic quickly turned to the community’s involvement―or the lack of it, rather—as being the prime reason for the financial predicament schools across the county are facing.

“There’s no way that the public understands three furlough days,” Jones said, “It doesn’t affect them. But if you start telling them there’s no school for their children to go to, I assure you they’ll be up in arms and they'll want a solution. They will start figuring out they have to get involved.”

When the question was posed by Steiger why more parents don’t attend more school board meetings until “it’s cutting time,” Beiser said it’s a matter of informing people.

“I think it’s my responsibility as trustee of the board to help educate people about who to contact,” he said. “I strongly believe that we’ve got to be better advocates of public education.”  

Rosinski added that while parents rarely got involved at the college level, she could hardly describe the students as “being lackadaisical” in nature.

“I find that once they [become aware of the situation], they’re just as active as we are,” she said.

No definitive action was decided, but the meeting adjourned with words of willingness from attendees to get more involved, whether via campaign emails, phone calls or rallies to defend public education and those who teach it.

“What is the solution?” asked Zombro. “It’s us. The only thing that has ever made great change in this country is the people and our will to do it.”