Fast 4 Education: East Bay hunger strikers end fast at Capitol

Saturday June 5, 2004

SACRAMENTO - Having secured a financial break for West Contra Costa schools and focused attention on problems in public education funding, a trio of gaunt and exhausted East Bay hunger strikers Friday ended their 25-day protest at the Capitol.

The three remaining protesters, Cesar Cruz, 30, Israel Haros, 27, and Jessica Vasquez, 20, were rolled into a Capitol briefing room in wheelchairs for a news conference with Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, who applauded their dedication.

Hancock, who authored a letter cosigned by 41 other Democratic legislators urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to meet with the protesters, thanked the governor for agreeing Thursday to sign AB2756, which allows the West Contra Costa school district to refinance the $28.5 million balance of its 1991 state bailout loan at 1.6 percent. The original rate was 6 percent.

The governor, Hancock said, also agreed to visit some West Contra Costa schools in October and to meet with students.

"This is a victory for the students of West Contra Costa County," Hancock said. "This has been something that the community has been asking for and needed for years. It is a testament to the strength of the fasters and the community in conjunction with local legislators that the governor agreed to give relief to the school district."

Cruz sobbed as he entered the room; his mother, Martha Borja, comforted him.

"This would have been a victory even if the governor had not partly agreed to one of our demands," Cruz said afterward.

"It still would have been a victory because of the support we got from people here in Sacramento and all over the Bay Area."

The fasters got some high-profile help from Dolores Huerta, cofounder of the United Farmworkers Union, who lobbied legislators this week, and took Vasquez's place as a hunger striker Thursday when Vasquez ended her fast.

The "Fast4Education" activists began their hunger strike May 10 in Oakland with six others before moving their protest to Sacramento.

Although Schwarzenegger declined to meet with the protesters, they are happy with what they accomplished. Cruz said meeting with the governor was never part of their demands.

The group wanted legislation to equally fund all public schools; full funding of Proposition 98, passed by voters in 1998 to guarantee a minimum level of funding for public schools; and forgiveness of the balance of the West Contra Costa school district loan.

On Friday evening, Haros and Cruz ended their fast at Downer Elementary School, where they began a 70-mile trek to the capital in the name of education in April. The group held a small ceremony at the campus, then had a meal of soup and tea.

Downer Elementary School teacher Michael McDonald, an organizer and supporter of the group, said he hopes the fasters' sacrifice does not go in vain.

Now that the governor has agreed to refinance the balance of the district's loan, the district will save about $600,000 per year. The fasters and their supporters should have a say in how that money is used, McDonald said.

"That money should not be used on administrative costs or consultants for the district," he said. "It should go to programs that affect students, such as libraries, counselors and music."