New Haven teachers protest cuts
It’s not very smart to cut education at a point when so many countries are trying to leapfrog the US multiple areas of dawning sciences and technologgies; to stay a leader we must first lead in education.
New Haven school district teachers, administrators and union representatives gathered early Tuesday morning at the Alvarado Middle School library to protest looming budget cuts that have caused 60 pink slips to be issued to district teachers.
The library, which opened in April 2010 as part of a $6.85 million construction project, is symbolic of the crisis facing the district and the state. It could close in the fall as part of $10 million in districtwide cuts if Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget plan and state tax extensions aren’t approved, and if New Haven’s parcel tax measure fails.
Measure B, on a mail-in ballot to be returned by May 3, would raise $180 per parcel — a total of about $3 million a year — to offset the cuts.
“Without local and state help, we will close this beautiful library that just opened,” New Haven Teachers Association President Charmaine Kawaguchi said. “We will likely lay off 60 energetic and wonderful teachers.
“I’ve been a teacher here in New Haven for 23 years, and everything that I’m proud to say we can offer our children will be gone. The children of California — our state’s future — are being permanently damaged.”