Students and teachers weigh in on the National Day of Action

Children, parents, and teachers today marched to San Francisco's Civic Center plaza, and elsewhere around the state, marking a Day of Action to Defend Education.

It's the culmination of a day of rallies, walkouts, strikes, sit-ins and speak-outs.  A central issue is the package of budget cuts, layoffs, and tuition hikes at California's universities, but activists have added other causes for concern to fuel the fire -- from a thousand pink slips being levied to government employees, to the billions of dollars that state officials have cut from public schools.

KALW reporters spread around the Bay Area today to get a sense of the big picture.  KALW's Ben Trefny reports from San Francisco.

Note: You can read KALW's live blog coverage of today's UC Berkeley protests, here.

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BEN TREFNY: Before the regular workday began, people who cared about public education were out in force, including kids from San Francisco’s El Dorado Elementary School. Dozens of children chaperoned by adults, marched - loosely - down sidewalks on the south side of the city, carrying hot pink signs that said: “Save our schools. El Dorado rules.” It was part of a coordinated effort to draw attention to the plight of the San Francisco Unified School District, which faces a two-year budget deficit of 113 million dollars.

Over the last few days, groups including the California Teachers Association called on public school parents and teachers to mobilize.  At Philip and Sala Burton High School, students and staffers filed out of classrooms just after 10 a.m. and gathered in small groups. One topic of conversation: 900 pink slips recently handed out to district employees. Susan Kitchell is a school nurse, and an executive board member of United Educators of San Francisco.

SUSAN KITCHELL: We already have more than 30 kids in a class in high school classes. Some have more than 40. You know, if you cut back on teachers, you still have kids within a classroom, but you’re going to need to put even more of them in one four-walled room with one teacher, without professional assistance. We’re jeopardizing our future with these cuts.

Kitchell planned on joining other educators from all around the city in marching to Civic Center Plaza for an evening demonstration. That will bring together elementary and high school students and teachers, and people from local colleges as well, who have their own concerns.

At City College of San Francisco this morning, as a 12-piece band played, speakers addressed a crowd through bullhorns. One topic included the decision to cut the school’s summer program, a move that affects more than 2 thousand students. Many people complained about tuition hikes and class cuts, and worried their education plans would be delayed. Student Edwin Laura:

LAURA: I think we need more money for school, you know, ‘cause some kids aren’t getting the right education. And some of the classes that we need are getting booted out. And we need summer classes, too. I mean, what the heck? How are you going to cut out summer classes? That’s messed up.

Economics and women’s studies professor Deborah Goldsmith says California’s elected officials are not giving the next generation a chance.

DEBORAH GOLDSMITH: Students can’t get into classes. They can’t continue in their paths, and most of our students are working. They’re holding jobs, trying to move on and get better lives. And we’re here to do it as teachers. We’re here to provide that for them. We’re also here to get decent pay for our own work. We have a pay freeze. We have problems with our working conditions in this beat up old campus, alright? And the money’s not coming from Sacramento, it’s not coming from the federal government.

It’s not coming from San Francisco, either. Last year, a ‘rainy day fund’ helped bail out public educators who were facing big deficits. But that money is now almost completely spent. Which means there are plenty of public education programs that people are fighting to protect.

In San Francisco, I’m Ben Trefny, for Crosscurrents.