California’s “Mobilization for education” on March 4 becomes a national effort - communiqué du California Faculty Association, 17 février 2010

Organizations in 18 States Join the Movement to Fight for Public Education ; For The First Time, Students, Faculty and Workers From All Segments of Public Education Will Demonstrate Together

On March 4, California Faculty Association members will join with students and education workers from all segments of public education in California to “Mobilize for Education.” Turns out, California will not be marching alone.

Organizations have planned similar actions in 17 other states, including Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts,Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee,Texas and Washington (state). See the listings below to learn more about events in California and around the nation.

Rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins and marches are planned for March 4 on or near all 23 Cal State University campuses, which have experienced over $1 billion in funding cuts over the last two years.

Major regional events of all California public education segments are shaping up to take place at the State Capitol in Sacramento, the San Francisco Civic Center, Pershing Square in Los Angeles and the CSU Northridge campus

Last fall, more than 800 students and faculty members from all over the state met at UC Berkeley to plan one, unified day of action on which the education community would band together to advocate for public education at every campus and school.

“Public education is under attack and we’ve had enough,” said California Faculty Association President Lillian Taiz. “The future of our country and our state are at stake. Our kids need public education from pre-school all the way to Ph.D. The slashing of education funds has to stop, and the only way to change it is for the entire education community to stand together.”

From pre-schools to universities, public education in California is being decimated. K-12 spending continues to shrink ; Californiais now 47th in public spending per pupil. And, the state has slashed higher education spending.

The California State University has let go some 2000 Lecturers over the last two years. Student fees tripled since 2002 while thousands of class sections have been eliminated. Tens of thousands of eligible students have been turned away or given up because of rising costs and inability to get necessary classes.

In his state budget proposal for 2010/11, Gov. Schwarzenegger proposed over $300 million each in funding increases for the CSU and UC systems, but that is not nearly enough to fill the deep hole left by massive funding cuts over the last two years.

Learn more at http://www.calfac.org/march4.html