RELEASE: Education not Incarceration Teach-ins Begin Throughout California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information:
November 10, 2003 Alice do Valle, Justice Now, 510-839-7654 ext. 4#, cell 510-499-4361
Dara Tom, 510-504-5455

California Teachers Begin Week of Civics Lessons on
Education Not Incarceration:
State Cuts Money to Schools While Prison Spending Increases

As Prison System Overspends and Class Size Rises, Teach-Ins Will Highlight Contradictions; Culminate in Statewide Day Of Action


WHAT: PRESS CONFERENCE & TEACH-INS begin across California
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2003 – 11 AM
WHERE: School of Social Justice, 8350 Hillside St. (between 83rd and 84th Ave.)
WHO: Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks

Rose Braz, Director, Critical Resistance

Dawn Williams, UC Student Association
George E. Galvis, Teacher, School of Social Justice
Jennifer Richardson aka Mel-Yel of East Bay Politix (Hip-hop performance)


Oakland, CA – Amid California’s worst budget crisis, and reports that California’s prison system overspent its current budget by $544 million while school funding is CUT $300 million, teachers across California will be holding Education Not Incarceration TEACH-INS building toward a statewide day of action.

Education Not Incarceration, the coalition of students, teachers, parents and community members that mobilized thousands to descend upon the State Capitol on May 8th, is launching a series of TEACH-INS from Nov. 12-19 in schools throughout the state, from the San Francisco Bay Area to Santa Cruz and Los Angeles.

During the TEACH-INS, students will get an important civics lesson: While California makes huge cuts to education, it continues to spend more money on prisons, dramatically impacting classrooms and communities across the state.

TEACH-INS will include Education Not Incarceration grade-appropriate lesson plans. Some teachers will host guest speakers, including Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks; former gubernatorial candidate Peter Camejo; and Lindsay Waggerman of the American Civil Liberties Union. Additionally, the San Francisco Youth Commission will talk with 80 youth who are incarcerated at the city’s Youth Guidance Center. A schedule of Teach-Ins and locations of schools will be announced during the press conference.

The TEACH-INS will culminate in a Statewide DAY OF ACTION. On Thursday, Nov. 19, students, teachers, parents and concerned community members will demand a reduction in the number of people behind bars, saving the state millions of dollars that should be restored to education. They will visit lawmakers’ district offices with letters, poems, spoken-word, drawings and stories of how budget cuts have impacted their schools. Also on that day, students will hold a rally outside the UC Regents meeting at UCLA and another rally will be held at UC Berkeley.

Support for the Teach-Ins and Nov. 19 Statewide Day of Action has poured in from educators and elected officials across California, including Sen. Don Perata; San Francisco’s Board of Education; the Oakland Educators Association; and the Oakland City Council.