A coalition of state and local educators held a press conference at the Board of Education today to discuss the potential devastating impact of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $4.8 billion budget cut to education funding — which could amount to a $13.1 million cut to schools in Humboldt County.

Lining up to speak to an audience of concerned teachers, parents and students were Humboldt County Superintendent Garry Eagles; Bob Berkowitz of the California School Boards Association; Patrick Riggs, President of the Eureka Teachers Association; Rebecca Corrigan, Librarian at Jacoby Creek School and Heidi McLean and Becky Reece, District President and Student Involvement Chair of California State PTA, respectively.

“I am seriously concerned,” Eagles began. Questioning the governor’s honesty, Eagles pointed out that the proposed cuts came “Just after announcing that this will be the ‘year of education,’” he said; and just after a coalition of educators met last November to address improvements and reductions to be made in education.

“Now,” Eagles said, “it is only the reductions.”

Calling on members of the State Legislature to uphold Proposition 98, a school funding initiative passed in 1988 that requires a minimum percentage of the state budget be spent on education, the coalition argued that the statewide cuts would inevitably result locally in a serious decrease in the quality of students’ education at a time when “Humboldt County schools are already reeling from declining enrollment,” Eagles said.

Proposition 98 can be suspended by a two-thirds vote of the California Legislature, or by the governor.

“It is time to make honesty our real state policy” he said.

Outlined on the state government’s Web site, Schwarzenegger’s proposed “budget balancing reductions” to education would include across-the-board cuts to such programs as special education and child development, before and after school programs, child nutrition programs and reduced meal reimbursements, class size reduction, home-to-school transportation, along with cuts to supplemental school counseling and administration — decisions, Assistant Secretary of Education Chris Bertelli says “the governor agonized over.”

“This is only the beginning of a long process,” Bertelli stressed in an interview Friday, adding that a revision to the proposed “budget stabilization” will take place in May.

“We’re looking forward to working with the education community,” Bertelli said. “We’re working with education coalition groups such as the one that was there today.”

When asked what a concerned member of the community should do to try and save their schools, Bertelli said, “People should work through the local legislatures” — a suggestion that Bob Berkowitz couldn’t stress enough at the press conference.

Calling the proposed cuts a “criminal act,” and calling on members of the community to speak out on this issue, Berkowitz said, “The governor and legislature need to know: stealing money from public education robs our children of our future.”

“Protect our schools from this assault on our children’s education,” he continued, “Vow to send a letter or an e-mail.”

In a state that ranks 46th in the nation already on per-pupil spending, Patrick Riggs, present to represent teachers in Eureka, pointed out that “every penny” invested in children’s education is “an investment in their future and, in turn, an investment in all of our future as a society.”

Riggs went on to cite a statistic that finds New York spending 75 percent more on their students than California. “Which community values it’s children more?” he asked.

In a press release from the Education Coalition, the results of the proposed cuts are outlined and would reportedly include laying off more than 107,000 teachers, and over 137,000 bus drivers, janitors, food service and maintenance workers and other education support professionals, eliminating all music, art and career technical education programs, and cutting more than $24,000 per classroom.

Saying that the state’s budget, “is a reflection of our community values,” Heidi McLean perhaps summed up the group’s feeling about the governor’s proposal best. “California budget problems should not be balanced on the backs of our children.”

To contact the Office of the Governor, phone 916-445-2841, or e-mail www.gov.ca.gov/interact. Send correspondence to: Office of the Governor, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814.

To contact Senator Patricia Wiggins (Humboldt County), phone 707-445-6508 in Eureka, or 916-651-4002 in Sacramento, or e-mail www.senator.wiggins@sen.ca.gov. Send correspondence to: Patricia Wiggins, State Capitol Building, Room 4081, Sacramento, CA 95814, or 710 E Street, Eureka, CA 95501.

To contact Senator Sam Aanestad (Del Norte County), phone 916-445-3353, or e-mail www.senator.aanestad@sen.ca.gov. Send correspondence to: Sam Aanestad, State Capitol Building, Room 3056
Sacramento, CA 95814.

To contact Assemblymember Patty Berg, phone 707-445-7014 in Eureka or 916-319-2001 in Sacramento, or e-mail assemblymember_berg@assembly.ca.gov. Send correspondence to: P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0001.