The victimization of public education in California

The new budget will reduce kindergarten-through-12th-grade education in California by $8.4 billion. Higher education will be cut by $900 million.

The full effects of this austerity budget are only now being assessed. In fact, not all school districts have calculated what measures they will have to take, what programs will be halted, or who exactly will be laid off. Some 18,000 layoff notices are expected to be sent out across the state.

In a typical example of the type of cuts being implemented, Petaluma City Schools has already approved a hiring freeze, a spending freeze, and the elimination of non-essential substitute teachers and overtime until next year. The school system is also considering reducing summer school programs, expanding class sizes, and eliminating counselor and other positions.

Diane Zimmerman, the superintendant of the Old Adobe Unified School District, told Petaluma360.com, "We'll have less of everything—students won't have as many textbooks and workbooks, and the school won't be as clean. But we'll feel the effect much more on a long-term basis."

John Walker, a principal at a private Petaluma school, St. Vincent DePaul High School, remarked, "Some people complain that schools just need to ‘tighten their belt' like everything else, but for schools, these cutbacks have been going on for years." After the budget cuts, he said, "California would have the lowest funding per student of any state in the country."

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