Attacks escalate on education funding

Scan page 15

There has been a great deal of talk about educational reform these days. But upon closer examination of the classrooms and faculty rooms it is clear that little has changed. In fact, things have gotten much worse.

The classroom teacher is still facing large classes and threatened layoffs. Salaries have not improved, and vital educational programs are facing cutbacks.

In California, the crisis in education is most dramatic. After 15 months of testimony, a statewide 17-member com -mission recommended 27 items that needed improvement. The most important of these were improved teachers' salaries, smaller classes, and more special and administrative support.

Yet despite these recommendations, California Gov. George Deukmejian recently vetoed an emergency bill which would have provided a 10-percent increase in school funds. Without these extra funds this is what will happen:

an increase in class size; a base-revenue cut equivalent to 5 percent for half of the state's school districts; an $18 million loss to Los Angeles schools;

a $2.9 million loss to San Francisco schools;

a $2.6 million loss to Oakland schools.

In starving Caltornia schools, Deukmejian is following the lead of the Reagan administration. Secretary of Education William Bennett has declared that, "More money does not make better schools. We have pretty well established this one in research."

Bennett does not say where his "research" has been conducted. Obviously not at the University of California's Department of Education. They have predicted an increase of 100,000 students in California in 1987 and a need for 80,000 new teachers in the next five years.

Did Bennett's research include the correlation between money for education and class size? Professor Michael Kirsh from Stanford's Policy Analysis for California Education, an independent research organization, has stated, "When you get above 30 students in a classroom, you begin to lose effectiveness."

Any classroom teacher could have told us AFRICA SAVE OUR SCHOOLS STOP FUND KE 2223.

THE Socialist Action/Joe Ryan In spite of the predicted teacher shortage, the Reagan administration is proposing large cutbacks in the system of economic support to college students. Secretary of Education Bennett is proposing a 46percent reduction in student financial-aid programs and a 30-percent cut in grants for low income students.

A proposed new loan plan would charge regular market interest rates. The rate of repayment would be set at a percentage of the graduate's income after entering the job market. Taking low income jobs would result in a longer repayment period and more interest paid.

A starting teacher making under $20,000, for example, would have to pay nearly 15 percent of his or her income each year until the loan is paid. It is clear this plan would discourage working-class students from entering college. This would affect the number of teacher candidates and penalize those who choose to become teachers.

Gambling for education

A recent gimmick developed in California to offset declining school income is state-run public gambling. Started in 1985 as a means of partially financing the schools, the lottery produced $272 million in revenue in the first year. The next year profits declined to $171 million.

The lottery has made only an insignificant contribution to California school finances, or about 2.5 percent of the total school budget. It is estimated that it would take an additional $1 billion to reduce California's class size by one student. To raise salaries and restore programs even more money is needed.

Unfortunately the lottery has tended to create the illusion that the schools' money problems have been solved. Actually the schools receive only 34 percent of the sales revenue; the rest going for administration and jackpots.

This money comes out of the pockets of those least able to pay. Surveys show that the poorest workers, grabbing at any chance to get out of poverty, buy the majority of lottery tickets.

What is needed Our schools must not be financed by pennies from the poor, but by levies on the rich. Corporations, insurance companies, and other enterprises should bear the cost of school financing. They make their profits from the labor of the educated workers produced by the schools. They should pay for their education.

Parents and teachers, together with students, are organizing meetings through -out the state. Already 5000 people have marched in Sacramento, Calif., with their message: "Stop cutting school funds." A rally of over 1500 took place in San Francisco in May with the same message. More meetings and rallies are projected.